CONTINUUM Common Ground
by Alex Lecorn
Summary: This is the second story in a series that takes up where TSCC left off. To fully understand what is going on it is recommended that you read my previous story Serrano Point: 2028 first. Please review.
1. Dramatis Personae

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

**Dramatis Personae**

-John Connor; Human male, Age 16

-Sarah Connor; Human female, Age 33

-Cameron; Cyborg female: Series 888 Terminator Infiltrator Model TOK-715

-Catherine Weaver; Shapeshifter: Series 1001 Terminator; CEO of ZeiraCorp and surrogate mother of Savannah Weaver

-James Ellison; Human male, Age 35; Former FBI Special Agent and Head of Security for ZeriaCorp

-John Henry; Cyborg male; Evolution of the Turk II

-Savannah Weaver; Human female, Age 8; Daughter of Catherine Weaver

-Special Agent Graham Tanaka; Human male, Age 43; FBI Agent investigating the Drone Attack on ZeiraCorp

-Special Agent Chelsea Russell; Human female, Age 28; San Francisco FBI Agent assigned to assist Special Agent Tanaka with his investigation.

-Special Agent Jason Auldridge; Human male, Age 37; FBI Agent who interrogated Sarah while she was under arrest

-Deputy Marshal Harry Scott; Human male, Age 34; United States Marshal in charge of the recapturing of Sarah and John Connor

-Deputy Marshal Carrie Fields; Human female, Age 29; United States Marshal assigned to recapture Sarah and John Connor

-Victoria Lawhart; Human female, Age 37; ZeiraCorp employee and Catherine Weaver's personal assistant

-Matthew Murch; Human male, Age 37; ZeiraCorp employee and department head for Project Babylon

-Malia Anderson; Human female, Age 32; CEO of Global Exports (Company behind Yaris, Kaliba, and other organizations working to create SkyNet.)

-Matthew Baker; Human male, Age 37; CEO of The Kaliba Group

-Fisher Dills; Human male, Age 46; CEO of Yaris Propulsions

-Michel Henderson; Human male, Age 37; employee of Yaris Propulsions and chief assistant to Fisher Dills


	2. Chapter I

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

**Chapter One**

**-Tuesday, March 18 2008 (03:21)**

**Several Miles Southeast Of Los Angeles**

A CAR DROVE BY, ITS HEADLIGHTS BRIEFLY ILLUMINATING THE GROVE OF TREES ATOP A SMALL HILL NEXT TO THE ROAD. Apart from a few crickets it was mostly silent. The leaves shifted as a slight breeze blew by.

Suddenly there was a blast of blue lightning, shooting out from the trunk of one of the trees near the top of the hill and hitting the ground. A moment later another bolt emanated from the same location and hit the branch of a neighboring tree, severing it from its parent. Three more bolts shot out as two rabbits and several squirrels came out from where they'd been sleeping and quickly scampered away. As lightning continued to shoot out of the tree a purplish-blue sphere burst out of the side of its trunk about two feet above the ground. After another second it had almost doubled in size, consuming the parts of the trunk that were in its way until with a loud cracking sound the upper part of the trunk collapsed from the lack of support, the tree falling away to the side to crash into one of its neighbors. At this what wildlife was left, mostly a few birds, quickly departed. The sphere continued to grow, vaporizing the part of the tree beneath it. As the sphere reached its full size there was a blinding flash of white light emanating from within it and a shockwave of energy shot out out from its equator, burning off the bark of any tree it hit.

The sphere quickly dissipated, leaving a faint blue shimmer to the air, which slowly faded away. There was now a slight crater in the earth were four people knelt, two men and two women, all of them nude.

John Connor staggered to his feet, the dirt uncomfortably hot beneath him despite the cool night. There was movement next to him and he looked around to see Catherine Weaver stand and step out of the crater. Her skin glowed silver from the pale moonlight. Except there was no moon... As he watched the silvery glow intensified, until her entire body appeared to be made of quicksilver. The liquid metal rippled slightly before resolving into clothing that now covered the T-1001's previously bare body.

"Are we here?" John asked.

Catherine looked back at him. "We should be."

John Henry stepped forward. "We should be able to verify the date using stellar positioning, however," he glanced up, "the sky is too overcast."

"Great."

"There is no reason to think that the TDT malfunctioned," John Henry said. "Besides, it was very cloudy the night before we left."

"Fine," John said, wrapping his arms around himself in an attempt to ward of the cold. "So now what?" he asked the Shapeshifter.

"I chose this area for our return point before we jumped forward," Catherine said. "We're a few miles out from Los Angeles, but close to a road with an ideal amount of traffic."

"Define 'ideal'."

Catherine turned to face him. "Enough so that we shouldn't have to wait too long for the next vehicle to come by, but rare enough so that if we move quickly we should be able to get on the road with our commandeered vehicle before another one comes by." Her body turned silver again, before reforming into a man wearing a flannel shirt over a gray T-shirt with jeans and tan leather work boots. John blinked as he realized he was staring at a perfect replica of Colonel Arbirn Ellis, minus his normal uniform.

"I assume you would prefer it if I not kill the owners of whatever car we take," said 'Ellis' seeing John's confused expression. "In which case I would rather not present them with a face that could be recognized," With that he turned and started walking down the hill towards the road.

John Henry began to examine the area around them, bending down to look more closely at the crater. "I think there was a tree here," he said. "You can see the roots in this hole, and over here must be the rest of it," he went over to the tree being supported by its neighbors, its bottom conspicuously absent.

John glanced over at him, then quickly looked away from his nudity. "Ah yeah that's," in search of something else to look at his eyes fell on Cameron, who as usual was standing completely still, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world. "That's very interesting," John quickly moved his gaze from off of the female terminator as well, though for somewhat different reasons. As John Henry continued to examine the fallen tree John went over to the edge of the hilltop were he had a clear view of the road below. After almost ten minutes a car came down the road, stopping at the base of their hill. The driver's door opened and a figure emerged, carrying something in its arms. He quickly climbed to the top of the hill, and as he got closer John saw that it was 'Ellis'.

"Here," he said, taking one of the sets of clothing he was holding and handing it to John. "We were rather fortunate," 'Ellis' handed another set to John Henry. "There were three people in the car, two male and one female, all about the right dimensions," He handed the last set to Cameron, who after a moment took them, looking at them curiously. "Put them on," 'Ellis' instructed. The cyborg looked at him blankly. 'Ellis' shook his head. "John Henry, I think perhaps you could have made her a bit more intelligent," He stepped forward and began to help the other terminator dress.

Clothed, they made their way down the hill to the car. John got in the front seat while Cameron and John Henry got in the back, 'Ellis' getting into the driver's seat. John rested the side of his head against the cool glass of his window as 'Ellis' started the car and pulled out onto the highway.

"What do we do now," John asked.

"We should find a place to stay while we wait," 'Ellis' said. "Once our… past selves have jumped forward we'll make contact with your mother and Mr. Ellison."

John closed his eyes as they drove on down the road. About forty-five minutes later they came to a cheap, out of the way motel. 'Ellis' got out of the car and went into the small administrators office. He came back after about five minutes holding a key. John got out of the car, followed a few moments later by John Henry and Cameron. They made their way over to the motel rooms, up a staircase to the second level to Room 37. 'Ellis' unlocked the door and they all filed inside.

It was a fairly small room with a table, one queen size bed, and a door leading into the bathroom set into the right wall. Next to it was a cabinet with a TV sitting on it. The carpet was a dull green, the walls covered in a faded floral print wallpaper.

Looking at the clock on the bedside table John saw that it was 4:16 in the morning. Going to sit on the bed John saw that Catherine had switched back to her usual form. "So how long do we stay here?" he asked.

"As I told Mr. Ellison, Savannah's gymnastics practice ends at 5:30. I'm assuming your mother will be with him," Catherine said. "Well meet up with them then."

John nodded. "Right," After a moment he fell back against the bed. Catherine took up a position near the window, watching the highway below. John Henry sat down at the table while Cameron stood more or less in the center of the room.

**-11:27**

John awoke to the sound of the television. Stretching, he sat up, turning to see John Henry slowly flipping through the various channels.

"I got food from a vending machine downstairs," Catherine said from the window. "The selection wasn't very impressive, however…"

"Well, I haven't eaten since last night twenty years from now," John said as he slowly stood. He went over to the table were an assortment of food was piled, and after a moment extracted a small bag of chips. "Anyway, thanks," he said sitting down.

"_We interrupt your regular programing to bring this special report. There is currently a large scale riot taking place at the Los Angeles County Jail, following what appears to have been a catastrophic failure in the security systems,"_

John twisted around in his chair to face the television.

"_Officials say that the situation is now in hand, and investigations are already underway into what led to this situation in the first place. There are currently rumors that at least some of the inmates may have escaped, however so far none of these have been confirmed by authorities. We will come back with additional reports as the situation unfolds."_

"Nice to see your handwork on television?" Catherine asked coming up to stand next to him.

"Yeah, I'm so proud," John replied. He shook his head. "I just realized that at this moment I'm sitting in a parked car in downtown LA," He glanced at the clock. "No, we're driving now."

"Just a few more hours then," Catherine said.

"When we meet up with my Mom and Ellison, then what?"

"We find a way to stop SkyNet. I'm still working on the details."

**-17:21**

Sarah Connor sat in the passenger seat of Ellison's SUV as they drove to pick up Savannah. After her son had jumped forward she and James had quickly left the building, leaving minutes before police and fire crews showed up. After that they had laid low for a while before going to pick up Savannah.

Sarah had been fairly quiet, speaking barely more then a few words in the last several hours. She felt off balance, adrift. She had spent her entire adult life protecting her son, trying to prepare him for what was to come, and now he was gone. Even when she had been locked up in Pescadero he had still been out there, waiting for her. And now he was gone.

She had promised him she would stop it. But the more she thought about it, the more Sarah realized she had no idea where to begin. The last several months had been about finding the Turk. But now that was done, and in the end it had gotten her nowhere. And while the missions that had been left on her basement wall had been important, they all had a common thread. They were about _fighting_ SkyNet, not stopping it.

So now here she was. Her son was gone. The last thing she had done before he left was make a promise she had no idea how to keep.

"So what's your plan?" Ellison asked. He had left her to herself for the last several hours, figuring she need time to work through what had just happened. But he needed to make his own plans now, and he needed to know what her intentions were first.

Sarah shifted in her seat. "I didn't exactly have a contingency for this. What about you?"

"I'm going to go pick up the girl," He looked over at her. "I guess what I'm asking is am I going to turn around and find that you've vanished, or are you planning to stick around."

"I haven't decided yet," Sarah said shortly. "Are you sure you want me around?" she asked after a moment. "After all, I am a wanted federal fugitive again."

"I didn't know what I wanted figured into it," James responded as he came to a stop at a red light.

"Oh, it doesn't," Sarah responded. "I was just wondering. Tell me, how did you end up working for Weaver anyway?"

"It was after Cromartie wiped out the HRT. I had taken a level of absence from the FBI and she contacted me. Convinced me to come work for her."

"Doing what?" Sarah asked.

The light turned green and after a moment the car started moving forward again. "She wanted me to hunt one down for her."

"Hunt one down? You mean a terminator?" Ellison nodded. "And did you ever think to ask how she knew about them in the first place?"

The former FBI agent shot her an exasperated look. "She showed me pictures of a plane crash from several years ago. Parts of a terminator endoskeleton were recovered."

"And how did you know that you could trust her? That helping her was in any way a good idea? According to Savannah you were 'teaching' this John Henry. Did she ask you to do that too, or did you volunteer?"

Ellison's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

Sarah twisted around to face him. "Oh, that's where you're wrong."

"We're almost there," Ellison said. "We can continue this later."

Sarah sat back against her seat. "Assuming I'm still around."

James slowed, then turned the car into the parking lot outside the building housing the dance studio.

"I'll get her," he said. "It would probably be best if you stayed here."

Part of Sarah bristled at being told what to do, but at the same time she realized he was right and so gave him a curt nod of understanding. James got out of the car, stepping onto the side walk as he scanned the entrance to the building were several young children, as far as he could tell all girls, were waiting for there parents, many of whom had already arrived. After a few moments he spotted Savannah.

"What the hell…"

Hearing him Sarah followed his gaze from inside the car where she saw the young girl in the arms of her… 'mother'. Standing next to the T-1001 were Croma- _John Henry_, Cameron, and…

A moment later Sarah was out of the car and running towards her son.

* * *

Hope you liked it. Please review.


	3. Chapter II

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

* * *

Thank you to Mouse56 and rnbm for your reviews.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**-Tuesday, March 18 2008 (17:32)**

**Outside the Everate Community Dance Studio**

Catherine parked their stolen car outside Savannah's dance studio. The four of them got out of the car and started making their way towards the main entrance where all the children were standing around waiting to be picked up. As they got closer John slowed, staying at the outskirts of the crowed and stretching out an arm to keep Cameron back as well while Catherine made her way to Savannah.

"Did you have a good time?" Catherine asked her 'daughter' pleasantly as the eight year old got up from the bench she had been waiting on.

"Mom!" she said wrapping her arms around the shapeshifter's middle. Then she spotted John Henry. "John Henry!" she said stepping back. "You're out of your basement?"

"Yes," the cyborg said nodding.

"I didn't know you could do that,"

"A story for another time, dear," Catherine said. "Certainly another place," Taking her by the hand Catherine led Savannah from the front of the building and towards their car.

"Are you sure James Ellison and Sarah Connor will come here?" John Henry asked once they had cleared the crowd.

"Reasonably," Catherine said. There was a commotion behind them and they turned to see Sarah Connor sprinting towards her son. "Definitely."

John turned just as his mother reached him, and a moment later found himself wrapped in her arms. John quickly hugged her back.

"I though I'd lost you," Sarah whispered in his ear.

"Mr. Ellison," John Henry said as the former FBI agent came up to them a few moments later.

"John Henry," he said with a nod. "You're back," he said to Catherine.

"What does he mean?" Savannah said looking up at her mother.

"We seem to be drawing some attention," Catherine said looking at the crowed milling about the entrance to the dance studio. "Perhaps we should move this someplace else."

Sarah and John broke apart and the group moved down the sidewalk until they reached the stolen car.

"Mr. Ellison, do you know what the situation at ZeiraCorp is?" Catherine asked.

James shrugged. "We left right after you two…" Ellison paused for a moment, not wanting to go into to much detail with Savannah standing there. "I would assume that police and fire crews were in route. Other than that I have no idea."

Catherine nodded. "Yes, well I'm sure there are several people who are looking for me, I should make an appearance," She knelt down if front of Savannah. "You remember Sarah, right?" The girl nodded. "Well I need you to go with her for a few hours while me and Mr. Ellison go back to work, alright?" After a few moments Savannah nodded again. "Good."

The shapeshifter stood and turned to face Sarah. "May I assume that if I leave my daughter in your hands I will see her again?"

Sarah's eyes flashed. She was about to speak when John headed her off. "We can't exactly hang around here. How will we get in touch?"

"You have a cell phone Ms. Connor?"

"Not really, I just got out of prison."

"Of course. Mr. Ellison?"

James nodded, pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket and handing it to John.

"Good. John Henry, it would be best if you stayed with them for now," She looked down at her daughter. "I'll see you in a few hours, Savannah. Mr. Ellison, we'll take your car," As the two of them left Catherine fished the car keys out of her pocket and handed them to John.

"Alright, let's go," Sarah said after they had left, holding her hand out to John for the keys. "Are we sure we want to take him with us?" Sarah asked nodding at John Henry.

"Yes," John said shortly as he opened the front passenger side door for Savannah.

"What about you, Tin Miss," Sarah asked as she moved around to the driver side. "All sorted out?" Cameron didn't respond. "Hey, girly."

"She's… not exactly herself right now," John said.

"What, is there another lose wire?"

"Not really," John responded. "I'll explain later."

Sarah shrugged. "Fine. Lets go then."

**-18:06**

**ZeiraCorp Headquarters**

James pulled up into a parking space in front of the ZeiraCorp building. The area was full of police cruisers, fire trucks and ambulances as emergence response crews moved about. "Are you sure we want to do this?" he asked Catherine.

She nodded. "Yes," She looked over at Ellison. "Why should they suspect us of anything? We're the victims."

"Yeah," James muttered to himself as he opened his door. "Cuz the police never suspect _them_."

The two of them made their way up the sidewalk towards the building's entrance before a police officer moved in their path.

"We have a situation here," he said. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I'm Catherine Weaver," the shapeshifter informed him.

"That's very nice for you. I'm still going to need you to go back to your car-"

"I. Am. The. Owner. Of. This. Building." Catherine elaborated. "I would imagine you have superiors who would like to ask me questions."

"Ah, in that case… follow me," He led them into the building's main lobby towards a group of people. "Detective Edmore," He said. "This woman says she owns the building."

The Detective turned to look at them. "Mrs. Weaver. You are a hard women to find. Mind telling me where you've been?"

"Mind telling me what crashed into my building?"

"I don't remember saying something crashed into anything."

"And yet I'm fairly sure my question is still valid," Catherine shot back.

"Alright. We're still not sure what it was. The leading theory is that it's some kind of drone, like what the military uses in Afghanistan, but obviously that raises a lot more questions then it solves. Now, where have you been?"

"Out of contact," Catherine responded. "I left around 10 o'clock. I only just heard about what happened, which is when I returned."

"And what about you, Mr. Ellison?" Detective Edmore asked.

James folded his arms across his chest. "The same."

"Really? What a coincidence. Of course anyone who enters or leaves this building signs in electronically, but we can't seem to access that right now. Or quite a lot of the security footage, which of course makes it hard to collaborate your story."

"Detective, what possible reason would I have for lying?" Catherine asked.

"Did I say anything about lying?" Edmore asked. He smirked as he saw more people entering the building. "It doesn't matter, you're not going to be talking to me much longer anyway."

"Special Agent Graham Tanaka," one of the newcomers said pulling out his badge as he approached them. "I'm taking over this investigation."

"I was wondering how long it would take the FBI to crash the party," Detective Edmore said. "Honestly I expected you guys here two or three hours ago at least."

"Sorry I'm late," Tanaka said. He looked at Ellison. "James, what a wonder meeting you here."

"Graham."

"So, mind telling me what's going on here?"

"Hey, I only showed up five minutes before you did."

"Is that so? And you are?" he said looking at Catherine.

"Catherine Weaver. I'm the CEO of this corporation."

"Well then I guess I'll be talking to you in a minute. In the mean time, Detective, what did you say your name was?"

"Richard Edmore."

"Fine. Fill me in."

As the two men walked a short distance away James turned to Catherine. "Well I suppose we had a bit of luck with the security footage."

"Hm. My guess would be it isn't luck so much as Cameron."

"The Connor's cyborg?"

"Yes. When she gave John Henry her CPU she and him switched places. She, that is her programing, is currently inhabiting the Babylon AI platform, and is therefore hooked into all of this building's systems."

"But didn't I see her with you, John and John Henry?"

"That was a new body we constructed for her. She still needs to be downloaded into it."

"Ah, okay then." James said. "So what do we do now?"

"I'm working on a plan."

"Well work fast," James said as Special Agent Tanaka turned around and started walking back towards them.

"So, Mrs. Weaver," he said. "Can you think of anyone who would want to kill you?"

"You think I was the target?"

"Well this drone, or whatever it was, it crashed right into your office, so yeah, I do."

Catherine thought for a moment. "No Agent Tanaka, I can't."

"Hm. What about you Ellison? You've been working here for what, over four months now? What do you think?"

James shrugged. "There was the incident a few days ago involving Sarah Connor, but she's in custody, so I don't see how she could be involved in this."

"Actually she escaped earlier today during the incident at the county jail."

"Incident?" Catherine said questioningly.

"Yeah, you know, the thing…" Graham looked between the two off them. "Where the hell have you two been for the last seven hours, under a rock?"

"Something like that," Catherine said.

"Wanna be more specific?"

"Not particularly," Catherine responded.

"I insist."

"Even if she has just escaped, do you think she's capable of this?" James asked quickly.

"My understanding is that the woman is nuts," Graham said. "She blew up a building. You should know that better then most, Ellison, you were the one who tried to bring her in nine years ago."

"I'm not asking if she _would _do it, I'm asking if she _could_ do it," James said. "Detective Edmore wasn't particularly clear about what it is that crashed into the building, but…"

Graham nodded. "Yeah, I see your point. Obviously our investigation is still in the preliminary stages. Once we know exactly what it was that hit the building and where it came from we should have a better chance of figuring out who's behind this."

"But tell me," he continued, "are you sure you can't think of anyone else who might want to kill you?"

"This is one of the leading corporations in the field of computer development, Agent Tanaka. Apart from the fringe elements, of which Sarah Connor is not the only member, though obviously one of the more violent, we have a number of rival companies, any of whom would not mind seeing ZeiraCorp in ruins. A few of them probably even have the capability of pulling something like this off. But I can't imagine any of them actually _doing it_. Even if one of them would go so far as to kill me, and I stress the word 'if', I'm sure they would try something less, spectacular."

"Well someone did try, Mrs. Weaver," Graham said. "I'll be keeping in touch. Now if you'll excuse me." With that the FBI agent moved off to talk with one of his own people.

"You did a good job of diverting him from the question of where we've been," Catherine said.

"Oh I'm sure he noticed," James said. "He's not going to stop asking. Sooner or later we're going to have to give him an answer, and the longer we hold off the more suspicious he's going to be."

"If you were in his position what would you think was going on?" Catherine asked.

"I'd try not to form any theories this early on."

"But if you had to."

James shrugged. "We apparently both left around the same time, both of us have no idea what's been going on today, and we arrived here together. If I had to guess at this point I'd say we're having an affair of some kind."

Catherine considered this. "Not the most ideal cover, but it is plausible and fairly straight forward."

"You're joking."

"Do you have a better idea, Mr. Ellison?" Catherine asked.

James shook his head. "Wonderful."

"I'm sure we'll be as discrete as possible," Catherine said. "Now, we should make contact with Cameron," The two of them made their way through the lobby till they reached a doorway. Going through it they walked down a hallway until they came to another door, which Catherine opened. Stepping inside she turned on the lights revealing a small room with a simple computer sitting on a desk.

"What's this room for?" James asked.

Catherine shrugged. "For the moment not much. We just need access to a computer hooked up to the building's network. Cameron," she said more loudly. "Can you hear us?"

After a few moments the computer monitor switched on.

**Yes._**

"Good. Did you hear our conversation in the lobby with the FBI agent?"

**Yes._**

"Can you edit the building's security footage to match our story?"

**I have already begun removing all footage including Sarah and John.**

**I believe I can also make the necessary adjustments to fit your alibi._**

Catherine nodded. "Good. We were able to construct a new body for you in the future. We should be able to download you into it within a few days."

**I understand._**

"Ah, Cameron," James said. "Can you hear what Agent Tanaka is saying? What Detective Edmore said, anything we need to know?"

**Yes. So far they are still trying to figure out what hit the building.**

**At the moment they do not seem overly suspicious of you.**

**Agent Tanaka is talking. He finds your reluctance to give an adequate**

**explanation as to your whereabouts questionable._**

"Yeah," James said. "I thought he would."

**One of his people just suggested you are sleeping together.**

**We may have another problem though._**

The computer screen switched to a still frame from the security footage zoomed in on a man's face.

**He claimed to be a Detective Franks with the LAPD. However he has made**

**several attempts to get into the sub levels, I believe his objective was**

**the server farms that currently house my programing. When trying to **

**get past a door he demonstrated excessive force for a human.**

**I believe that there is a high probability that he is a machine._**

"But he hasn't gotten in yet?" Catherine asked.

**For the moment he seems to be concerned with maintaining his cover.**

**None of the other police have shown any interest in the basement so far.**

**There are enough other people around that he hasn't had that much time**

**to make his attempts._**

Catherine nodded. "We'll look into it. You have Mr. Ellison's cell phone number, right?"

**Yes._**

"Good. We gave it to John. I need you to call him and ask him where they are."

**Wait a moment. _**

Catherine and James waited several minutes before an address appeared on the screen.

"Good. Inform them we should be there shortly."

**Acknowledged._**

Is there anything else you think we need to know?"

**Not at the moment._**

"Alright. We should be in contact soon," The monitor switched off and Catherine and James left the room, returning to the lobby.

"So what do you want to do about this detective?" James asked.

"The one Cameron thinks is a machine? I'm not sure yet," Catherine said casually glancing around the room. "However he seems to have taken an interest in us, he's standing over there. Don't look."

"Right," James said, shifting so that he was facing almost the opposite direction. "What should we do?"

"Leave and see if he follows us."

They walked across the lobby towards the exit. Once they were out of the building they turned left and started heading towards Ellison's car.

"Take your time starting the car," Catherine said as they got in, "but don't show an interest in anything else," For her part Catherine sat back in her seat, watching the cars go by while James adjusted the mirrors. "He just walked past us."

"Yeah, I saw him," James said. "Probably going for his own car so he can follow us."

"Well, give him a few moments, then start driving. Take us somewhere sparsely populated."

James nodded, and a few seconds later turned the car on and pulled out into traffic. "Is he following us?"

"I think so," Over the next several minutes Ellison made a number of turns, general heading in the direction of the city's industrial district. "Hm, yes, definitely."

"What's the plan?"

"Find someplace deserted and deal with him."

James glanced over at her. "We don't have any weapons."

"That won't be a problem."

Several minutes later they pulled into a large but empty parking lot in front of an old building in an advanced state of disrepair. After a few moments the detective's car pulled in after them.

"Stay here," Catherine said opening her door and walking towards the other vehicle.

The detective got out of his car. "Mind telling me what you're doing here?" he asked pulling out his badge.

Catherine came to a stop a few feet away from him. "Mind telling me why you were following me? I was under the impression that we were free to go."

The detective pulled out his gun and started firing at Catherine, the bullets only doing minimal damage. Catherine raised one of her arms, her hand turning to quicksilver before lancing out towards the other terminator, piercing his chest and destroying his power core. A moment later Catherine retracted her arm, allowing it to turn back to flesh as she walked towards the fallen machine. As she knelt down next to him the terminator turned his head to look at her, still fighting for life. Catherine grabbed his head, cutting away the flesh covering his CPU port and removing his chip. Almost immediately the surface of the CPU ignited as it came into contact with the air, destroying it.

Catherine put the ruined chip in her pocket, then picked up the terminator and deposited him in the trunk of Ellison's SUV.

"Let's go," she said getting back into the front passenger side seat.


	4. Chapter III

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

* * *

Thank you to rnbm and gypsy069 for your reviews.

This is the edited version of the chapter. Please Review.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

**-Tuesday, March 18 2008 (18:14)**

**Downtown Los Angeles, Warehouse District**

Sarah pulled their car into the parking lot next to an abandoned building. John quickly got out and was able to pull open the large doors allowing Sarah to drive the car inside.

"This is like the last place you took me," Savannah said getting out of the car. They were in a large room, about four stories tall, with mostly empty crates scattered here and there. Over in the opposite corner of the building there were three trash cans that looked like they had had fires in them, but in all it looked like it had been at least several days since anyone else had been there.

"Yeah, don't even get me started," John replied.

"Maybe you'd prefer a nice five star hotel?" Sarah asked.

"I'm trying to remember if I've ever even been inside one of those."

John Henry got out of the car. "This should do until Mrs. Weaver contacts us."

"Yeah, I can hardly wait," Sarah muttered under her breath.

"Why are we here?" Savannah asked.

"We, need a safe place to stay for a little while," John said.

"Oh. Why?"

"It's… complicated." John answered.

"Savannah, what do you have in your backpack?" John Henry asked.

The girl shrugged. "School books, my dance practice clothes, and my notebook."

"What's in you notebook?"

"Drawings and stuff."

"Would you like to show me?"

Savannah nodded. "Okay." The two of them went over to sit down on a group of boxes on the other side of the warehouse.

"Are you sure we can trust him with her?" Sarah asked.

"Fairly," John said.

Sarah turned to look at him. "So what happened?"

John leaned back against the car as he thought for a moment.

"We, you, didn't stop it," he finally said. "Weaver and me arrived near a group of resistance soldiers. She disappeared almost immediately, but they took me with them."

"She left you?"

"Well with the soldiers nearby, and she being who and what she is…"

"Alright, so what about this John Henry? What's so special about him?"

"His mission was to infiltrate a SkyNet facility and hack into SkyNet's database to find information about how, when, and where it was created. Hopefully with the intelligence he has we can find a way to stop it."

Sarah considered this for a few moments. "So that's it? That's his purpose?"

John folded his arms. "That's why he jumped forward. I find it hard to believe that that's the only reason Weave created him, I would think it would be something she could have done herself."

"Then why did she make him?"

John shook his head. "I don't know."

"What about this Weaver. Was she reprogrammed by the resistance?"

"She never said. I don't think so though. I know she isn't working for SkyNet. I suspect she isn't working for anyone but herself."

Sarah turned to look at Savannah and John Henry. "What do we do about the girl?"

"Nothing."

Sarah looked back at him. "Nothing?" she repeated with a hint of disbelief.

"She asked us not to."

Sarah snorted. "If you think I give a damn what that liquid-metal bitch-"

"Not Weaver. Savannah. She was the one in command of the resistance cell the soldiers who picked me up were apart of. She said that when I jumped back she didn't want us to tell her… younger self, the truth."

"Why?"

"She didn't think it was necessary."

"_Necessary_!"

John shook his head. "Yes, at some point she should know. Hopefully Catherine will tell her herself. If not, then yes, eventually we should tell her ourselves. But Judgment Day is still two years away. We have… some time."

"Time for what? What do we gain by waiting?

"What do we gain by doing it now?"

"What does that even mean?" John shrugged. "You really think we should wait?"

John shook his head. "I think Savannah was very clear about wanting us to."

Sarah sighed, but decided to drop it, for now. "Alright. So what's wrong with Cameron today."

"Well, it's not technically Cameron. Her, body was destroyed in the jump forward, so we had to make her a new one. Anyway, her programing was still here in 2008, so…"

"I thought this John Henry took her chip with him?"

"Yeah, he did, but… they basically switched places. He downloaded his programing onto her CPU and she transferred herself into the Turk."

"So at some point we're going to have to go back into ZeiraCorp and put her in her new body?"

"Basically, yeah."

Sarah shook her head. "You know for someone sent back to protect us that terminator seems to need saving on a fairly regular basis."

The two of them stood against the car for a few minutes before the cellphone James had given John began to ring. He quickly pulled it out and opened it. A moment later he heard a series of tones. John wrinkled his brow in confusion, but quickly pressed the right buttons to send the correct response.

"Who is this?" he asked.

John? It's Cameron."

"Cameron?" At this Sarah immediately straightened up from against the car.

"Yes. My programing is in the Babylon AI at ZeiraCorp."

"Ah, yeah, right."

"Catherine Weaver and James Ellison are here. They want to know your current address."

John quickly gave it to her.

"Thank you. Wait a moment."

John stood there for about a minute while Sarah watched him intently before Cameron started speaking again.

"Catherine Weaver says that they are on their way."

Alright. Cameron… how are you.. doing?"

"I'm fine, John. Catherine Weaver told me about the new body you created."

"Yeah, hopefully we'll have you in it soon."

"I understand," Cameron paused for a moment, then, "Goodbye John."

"Bye Cameron," There was a clicking sound, then a dial tone as the call ended and John put the phone back in his pocket.

"Weaver and Ellison should be here soon," John told his mother. She nodded. John got into the front passenger seat of the car, leaning back as he closed his eyes.

"John," Sarah said after a few minutes. He turned his head to look at her.

"Earlier you said we still have two years before Judgment Day. It's three, not two."

John swallowed, then shook his head. "November 8, 2010. I guess that cuts about, five and a half months off what we thought we had."

Sarah paled. John sat up, swinging his legs around so that he was facing his mother. After a moment she nodded. "Alright."

After a minute Sarah went to sit on a crate a few feet away. It was mostly silent except for the low chatter coming from Savannah and John Henry and the never-ending hum of traffic from the city. Almost half an hour later they heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. John twisted around in his seat to see Ellison's SUV pulling into the warehouse.

John Henry and Savannah got up and started making their way towards the car as Sarah also stood, moving to stand next to the front of their own vehicle.

"Savannah," Catherine called out as she got out of Ellison's car.

"Hi," James said as he got out as well, going up to Sarah. "We had a few minor problems on the way over," he whispered as John came to stand next to them. "We can get into the details later, but we sort of had a run in with a machine. Mrs. Weaver was able to take it down in about five seconds, it's in my trunk now."

"Five seconds?" Sarah repeated.

"Yeah, I saw her in action a bit in 2028," John said. "She can kill a terminator almost as quickly as she can a human," Sarah turned to look at him. John shrugged. "It got a little exciting towards the end there. A bit in the middle too."

"Well we don't want Savannah to see it," James said.

"We'll put her in the front seat," John replied.

"What are you three talking about," Catherine asked, her left hand holding her daughter's right.

"Seating arrangements," James answered.

"Were are we going?" Sarah asked.

"I think the safest place for you to hide would be my house," Catherine said. "I haven't gotten around to… hiring a new maid yet, and I think it's safe to say that I'm the last person the authorities would expect to shelter you."

"She has a point," John said.

"What should we do with the other car?" John Henry asked.

"We can't leave it around for the police to find," Sarah said. "Me and John have left considerable DNA evidence and fingerprints in it, not to mention Savannah."

"Well I'd rather not park a stolen car in my garage," Catherine said.

"We'll stick it somewhere it won't be noticed for a day, and I'll come back and burn it tomorrow." Sarah said.

Catherine shook her head. "I'll do it. The less time you spend out and about the better."

John retrieved Cameron's body from the other car before Sarah moved it into the corner of the building, covering it with old tarps with James's help, then they all got into the SUV, something of a tight fit with seven people. James pulled out of the warehouse and onto the road.

Forty minutes later they came to the Weaver residence, James bringing his car to a stop in the driveway. They all got out of the car and made their way to the front door.

"There's food in the kitchen if anyone is hungry," Catherine said once they were all inside.

"Yeah, I think I'll go work on that," John said.

"Would you mind if I help?" John Henry asked. John shrugged and they made their way towards the kitchen with Savannah trailing behind them.

"If you don't mind I'll head off home," James said.

Catherine nodded. "We should retrieve the terminator for your trunk first," Sarah followed them out as Catherine made her way to the back of the SUV and single-handedly pulled the disabled terminator from it. Going over to the garage she entered a code into the keypad next to the door and a moment later it opened revealing two cars. Catherine went in and dumped the terminator in the corner of the room before returning to the other two.

"Can you be back at ZeiraCorp by 10 tomorrow?" Catherine asked.

James nodded. "Sure. Goodnight,"

"Goodnight, Mr. Ellison." Catherine said.

The two women watched as James walked over to his car and drove away.

"I would imagine you have a few questions for me," Catherine said after a while.

"A few. I suppose I'll start with 'what's your plan for the immediate future?'"

"Has your son told you what we were doing in 2028?"

"We talked about it a little. Your John Henry infiltrated SkyNet so he could find out how it was created."

Catherine nodded. "Basically. We use that information to track SkyNet down and destroy it before it destroys the world."

"And what's in all this for you?"

"You'll find out in time. I know that's not the answer you wanted, but it's the only one you're getting for now."

"Alright. And what about Savannah?"

"Did your son talk to you about that too?"

"Yeah. Why should I listen to him?"

"Why shouldn't you?"

"That's the answer he gave me. I want a better one."

"Am I hurting her?" Catherine asked.

"You're not her mother."

"I'm the closest thing she has."

Sarah turned to look at the shapeshifter. "Your pretending to be her mother to further your own ends. You don't give a damn about her."

"Firstly," Catherine said, "you know nothing about my 'ends'. Secondly, I didn't kill her parents, and if I hadn't been there when I was Savannah may very well have shared their fate. And thirdly," Catherine turned to face her as well. "please don't presume to tell me what I do and do not care about."

"What you're doing is sick."

"I have no interest in debating it with you," Catherine replied evenly. "Savannah will find out what I truly am one day. That is all you need concern yourself with."

Sarah took a step toward her. "Don't presume to tell me what I should and should not concern myself with. Tell me, while she was missing, while she was with me, and you had no idea where she was, were you worried?"

"Yes."

"What if I said I don't believe you?"

"I could care less. I'll go see how the others are doing. I'm glad we had this chat."

**-Wednesday, March 19 2008 (08:31)**

**The Weaver Residence**

That night John slept in the spare bedroom while Sarah took the couch.

The next morning she got up to the smell of food and came into the kitchen to find her son cooking eggs.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," John answered. "Weaver left about twenty minutes ago, she said she'd deal with the car later today. Savannah's still here, Weaver said she'd tell the school she's sick. After everything that's happened over the last few days she decided she was safer here."

Sarah nodded. "Those eggs?"

"Yeah."

"So what are we doing today?"

"Nothing, I think."

Nothing?"

"Yeah," John removed the pan from the stove and dumped the scrambled eggs onto a plate before poring more raw eggs into the pan from a measuring cup.

"Toast?" Sarah said after a moment.

"Not yet. I think there should be some bread in that thing over there."

Sarah nodded, going over to retrieve a loaf of bread. "Savannah?"

"Sleeping in. I was going to go wake her in a few minutes."

"And what about John Henry?"

"I don't know. He gave Weaver a list of computer parts he needed before she left, then he went into the den."

"What about all this information he has about SkyNet? How are we supposed to get it off his chip?"

John began to stir the eggs in the pan with a spatula. "I don't know."

**-11:42**

ZeiraCorp Headquarters

"You wanted to see me?" Matthew Murch said from the doorway of the conference room Catherine was using as a temporary office.

"Yes," Catherine said waving him in.

"Is there anything new about… what happened yesterday?" the man asked as he walked into the room.

"Not yet. I wanted to talk to you about project Babylon."

"John Henry? I haven't been able to get down there since-"

"I know. I've had John Henry moved."

"Moved?"

"Yes. The body that I acquired for him, it originally came with a CPU capable of running it, however this was lost. But I was recently able to procure a replacement chip. John Henry was downloaded onto this CPU shortly before the attack on the building."

"That's… how big is this, CPU?"

"About the size of your thumb."

Murch shook his head. "That's… You were able to fit all of his programing onto something _that _small?"

Catherine nodded. "Fairly easily. Project Babylon is still open, I will want you to continue assisting with his development, though that will have to wait for a while?"

"Where.. is he?"

"Somewhere safe," Catherine regarded him for a moment. "When is the last time you took a vacation, Mr. Murch?"

"I… it's been a few… months."

"More than that I think. Why don't you take two months off. Hopefully we will be ready to resume by then."

Murch nodded after a moment. "Ah, okay. Tell me, if John Henry is in this new… CPU, then what's going on with the Babylon AI platform."

Catherine shrugged. "At the moment nothing. It's mostly just hardware, and the remnants of whatever software John Henry didn't need when he transferred himself to the CPU. We might do something with it at some point, but for the moment it's served its purpose. The rest of the day should be enough time for you to get your department in order, right?"

"Well seeing as my main project has disappeared, there isn't really much for me to do. Is there something you want me to do with Babylon now that it's not being used?"

Catherine shook her head. "That wont be necessary. Good day, Mr. Murch."

Murch nodded. "Mrs. Weaver."


	5. Chapter IV

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

* * *

Thank you to justjoe, rnbm, and nyx'godness for your reviews.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**-Wednesday, March 19 2008 (14:16)**

**Federal Bureau of Investigation Los Angeles Field Office**

Special Agent Jason Auldridge stood outside the inner office of the Assistant Director in Charge of the LA Field Office. On the other side of the room sat the desk of the Director's secretary, who was out at that moment.

"Agent Auldridge?" said Assistant Director Jeffrey Vincent opening his door and sticking his head out.

"Sir," Auldridge said turning to face him.

The Assistant Director waved him in and Auldridge followed him into his office. Inside he saw two other people, a man and a woman.

"This is Deputy Marshal Harry Scott, and Deputy Marshal Carrie Fields," Vincent said. "They're from the United States Marshals Service."

"Special Agent Jason Auldridge," the FBI agent said by way of greeting.

"Yeah," Harry said with a nod.

"They're here to take over the hunt for Sarah Connor," Vincent said sitting down behind his desk.

Auldridge nodded. "I see."

"You questioned her when she was brought in, right?" Harry asked.

"Yes, not that I learned anything."

"Do you know how she escaped?" Carrie asked.

"We're, still trying to recreate the events surrounding yesterday's… incident. The investigation is being handled primarily by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, if there are any new developments they will probably come from there."

"What do you think happened?"

"At this point I wouldn't want to guess."

"Do you have any idea how she managed to go this long without being noticed?" Harry asked.

Auldridge shook his head. "She blew up a bank in 1999. Everyone thought she and her son died in that explosion. Whatever else you can say about Sarah Connor, she's resourceful. With no one looking for her it doesn't surprise me that she managed to avoid detection."

"Until now. Do you know why she kidnapped the girl?"

"Like I said, she didn't talk much."

Harry nodded. "We'll be in touch if we have any further questions."

"Of course," Auldridge answered.

"Director," Harry said with a nod to Vincent. With that the two Federal Marshals left the room.

"So, the United States Marshals," Auldridge said stepping towards Vincent's desk.

"Sarah Connor is a federal fugitive who escaped from custody, this case is well within their jurisdiction," Vincent said.

"Oh, I'm not complaining. I might even send them a fruit basket or something."

"You don't mind losing this case?"

"Not really," Auldridge said shaking his head. "Practically nothing about it made any sort of since. I don't know what's going on with that woman, and honestly I don't want to."

Vincent shrugged. "She's a deranged criminal and terrorist."

"Oh, Sarah Connor isn't your average malcontent."

"No, that's what makes her so dangerous."

Auldridge nodded. "Will that be all, sir?"

"Yeah, you can go. Coordinate with the LA Sheriff's Department, we may not be in charge of finding this woman anymore, but I'd like to know how the hell she escaped."

"Yes, sir," With that Auldridge turned and left.

**-16:37**

**ZeiraCorp Headquarters**

Catherine entered the conference room to find James standing against the far wall, looking out the window at the streets below.

"That will be all, Victoria," the shapeshifter said to her assistant who turned and left, closing the door behind her.

"I thought we should talk," James said still looking out the window.

"I expected you would," Catherine said walking further into the room.

The former FBI Agent turned to face her. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't," Catherine responded. "However, a better question might be, what choice do you have? The Connors will form an alliance with me, I represent their best chance of stopping SkyNet."

"Even if that's true, what does it have to do with me?"

"Where are you going to go Mr. Ellison? Back to the FBI? We both know that's unlikely. You know what's at stake here; you're not going to walk away. And if that's the case, where else do you have to turn?"

"Actually, I don't know what's at stake here. What is it you're trying to do? How is John Henry supposed to help us?"

"You'll see, in time."

James folded his arms across his chest. "You've been giving me variations of that answer ever since I started working for you. I need something more now."

"I'm not ready to give it to you. Not yet. You're going to have to have faith, Mr. Ellison. Faith that I know what I'm doing. Faith that our goals are compatible."

"I'm not sure I can do that anymore."

Catherine nodded. "You will do what you must, Mr. Ellison. But take care before you decide your course of action. I would hate for you to make the wrong decision."

James looked at her for a moment. "Was that supposed to be some kind of threat?"

"Why would I threaten you?"

"I know what you are now, _Mrs. Weaver_. So I don't think for a moment that you would hesitate for so much as a second to kill me if you thought it would server your purposes. I'm sure you've done it before."

"Is that what your problem with me is?"

"Not just mine. You may think that you have Sarah Connor in the palm of your hand, but you really don't. She'll cooperate with you for as long as she has to, not a moment longer."

"I think she'll find she needs me and John Henry more then she thinks. That's my point."

"We'll see. I'll stay around for now. Just remember, if nothing else while I may not be Sarah Connor's favorite person, I don't think she wants to see me dead, or anyone else. If you really want your… _alliance_ to work, you might want to keep that in mind."

Catherine nodded. "Thank you Mr. Ellison, I will."

"Do you know how much longer it's going to take Cameron to doctor the security footage?" James asked. "I have FBI technicians breathing down my neck to get into the building's computer systems to see if they can retrieve any of the 'corrupted' data."

"Actually she's done. We should be able to access it soon. The quality will leave something to be desired, but it should hold up our story."

Ellison nodded. "Good. What do you think they'll find, when they investigate where that drone came from?"

"I would assume that whoever was responsible will cover their tracks. I don't think this investigation will lead anywhere," Catherine moved forward again so that she was standing next to James by the window. "If you could be at my house around five tonight, I'm sure Ms. Connor will be eager to discuses our next move."

"How much is there to discuses?"

"Until John Henry gives us the information he gathered and we've had a chance to go over it, not much. However I somehow doubt that will deter her."

"No," James agreed. "Probably not."

**-16:07**

**The Weaver Residence**

Catherine arrived home a little after five, about twenty minutes after Ellison. They all had dinner, then Savannah went to her room while everyone else moved to the living room.

"First things first," Catherine said. "The car has been burned, even if the police find it I doubt there is any evidence left of any of our presence. As for Cameron, she was making adjustments to ZeiraCorp security records regarding yesterday's events, however she's finished now. We should be able to put her into her new body tomorrow morning."

"What about the terminator you took out last night?" Sarah asked. "We need to burn it."

Catherine shook her head. "No. We should keep it in case either John Henry or Cameron are damaged."

"It's too dangerous. If someone else gets their hands on it-"

"They wont," Catherine said. "And even if they did, Judgment Day is only a few years away. At this point I don't think that any technology that could be scavenged from a triple-eight would hasten things."

"A few weeks, well _days_, ago, Kaliba tried to capture Cameron," John said. "So they obviously want a terminator for something."

Catherine thought for a moment. "There's a good chance that they wanted her for the same reason I wanted John Henry, or the body he's using, anyway."

"You wanted Cromartie's body so you could hook it up to your AI," Sarah said. "If you think they wanted Cameron's body for that reason, that means you think they have an AI too."

"About a week ago John Henry was attacked," James said. "Some sort of computer virus. We think that it was created by another AI similar to John Henry."

"Yeah, when we were in the future Savannah said that a few weeks after we left Cameron was attacked and destroyed by SkyNet in a cyber-attack," John said. "I guess at the time I didn't really think about what she meant by 'SkyNet', I sort of assumed it was some terminator, but…"

"Great," Sarah said. "That's just, wonderful. So if SkyNet already exists, why hasn't it destroyed the world already?"

"Because it can't," John Henry said. "Whoever created it, they're keeping it to themselves for now. From what I gathered it won't go to the military for another eighteen months. Even then, it won't be until November of 2010 that it goes online and is given control of the United States Military Command and Control functions."

"So we still have some time. What about this information you gathered? According to John it was rather short on details."

"Not exactly. Mrs. Weaver, did you get the parts I asked for?"

Catherine left the room and a few moments later came back with a box holding several cords and other mechanical parts.

"Good. I need a sharp knife, preferably with a short blade," James pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and handed it to the cyborg. John Henry unbuttoned and removed his shirt, then turned so that his back was to everyone else. "When I created this body I made some, modifications, to the design," He extended the knife's blade and moved it to the base of his neck. He made two diagonal incisions, each about three inches long to form an X. Putting the knife on the coffee table John Henry pulled the flaps of flesh back to expose a circular plate with a hole in it's center.

Catherine stepped forward. "It's like the connection for the cable we had connecting your first body to the Babylon AI."

"First body?" Sarah asked.

"I'll explain later." John said quickly.

John Henry turned back to face them. "I'll transfer everything I've learned onto a computer and then print it out so you can all look at it."

"And how long will that take?" Sarah asked.

John Henry pulled his shirt back on. "If I start tonight I should be done by tomorrow morning. It could take longer to print it out…"

"Well, we can just transfer a lot of it to laptops," John said.

John Henry nodded. "That would take less time."

"So we can start working on this tomorrow?" James said.

John Henry nodded.

"I'm going to need to go out tomorrow," Sarah said. "We've already collected information on Kaliba, some of it might be useful. And we need supplies, mainly clothes."

"And weapons?" Catherine asked wryly. Sarah shrugged. "I suppose I don't need to tell you to be careful?"

"Not really. There's something else. While I was in jail I was interrogated by this FBI agent."

James nodded. "Auldridge."

"Yeah. Anyway, last time we talked he mentioned that Miles Dyson's son, Danny, has been missing for three months. I don't know if that has anything to do with us, but it might be worth looking into."

Catherine nodded. "Agreed."

They were all silent for few a minutes. "Well if that's all…" James said.

"I believe so," Catherine said. "Mr. Ellison, if you could be back here by four am tomorrow, I want to take Cameron to ZeiraCorp as early as possible."

"Fine," James left the living room and several moments later they heard the front door open, then close.

"I'll go start working on the data transfer," John Henry said.

"Good. Sarah Connor, perhaps it would make more since if you took my bed tonight, seeing as I don't actually need it."

"Yeah, alright."

"Now, I'm going to go see how Savannah's doing," Catherine said before leaving the room.

* * *

Hope you liked it. Please, please, please review.


	6. Chapter V

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

* * *

Thank you to justjoe, Larak, rnbm, and morded for your reviews.

So to all of you who have been anxious to see Cameron again, well I think you _might_ like this chapter. Or not, I can really never tell.

As for not liking Cameron switching places with John Henry, I would like to just point out that I'm not the one who wrote the last five minutes of the TSCC Finally. We know that John Henry took Cameron's CPU and jumped forward with it. We know that someone left a message on the computer to John saying I'm sorry. And we know that John and Catherine jumped froward after Cameron. If there had been a season three I'm sure the how and why would have been explained wonderfully. Unfortunately FOX is run by stupid people, so I have to do the bast I can to go on in a way that makes some sort of sense.

Now I'll be the first to admit that my continuation hasn't been perfect. As olischulu pointed out a few times Cameron's body being destroyed when John and Catherine jumped forward doesn't make since, otherwise it would have been destroyed when John Henry jumped. However at that point it was a little late to go back and change everything, and besides, having to create a new body for Cameron actually helps advance a _for the moment_ minor subplot. And as for not liking the lack of Cameron, well like I said read this chapter.

And I still haven't gotten this chapter back from my beta, so while I did run through it one more time on my own before posting it, it has not been edited by someone else so there _might_ be a few small grammar mistakes.

Anyway, I'll shut up now. Hope you like it.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**-Thursday, March 20, 2008 (05:22)**

**ZeiraCorp Basement**

Catherine and James entered the room where John Henry's body used to be housed. The metal table that had been in the center of the room was gone, but other then that the room looked fairly unchanged, thought the hallway outside was still littered with debris. A moment later Cameron's body entered after them. She was caring a folding chair.

"Are you ready?" Catherine asked, seemingly to no one. After a moment the large computer screen in front of her lit up.

**Yes._**

Catherine nodded. She took the chair from the cyborg and set it up in front of the bank of computers, then directed her to sit in it. Catherine moved to stand behind the chair, placing both her hands on the terminator's head. After a moment the thumb of her right hand morphed into a blade, carefully cutting through the flesh covering the cyborg's CPU port before peeling it back. Catherine removed the circular plate protecting the CPU, then removed the chip from its slot. The terminator went limp.

Catherine took the CPU over to one of the computers and hooked it up before stepping back.

"How long?" James asked.

Catherine shrugged. "No more then a few minutes. Is there anything new on the police investigation of Tuesday's events?"

"Not that I'm aware of," James said with a yawn.

They stood in silence for a few minutes before there was a beeping sound and one of the smaller monitors began scrolling a large amount of data. Catherine stepped forward and removed the CPU, going over to the cyborg and putting it back inside her head before replacing the cover plate as well. James folded his arms as they watched her. Finally she stirred, straightening in the chair before standing up. She reached up, pressing the flap of skin and hair back against her skull.

"Cameron?" Catherine asked.

The cyborg looked at her. "Yes."

**-11:52**

**Carl's Jr, Glendale (Los Angeles metropolitan area)**

"So what should we do now?" Harry Scott asked as he and his partner sat down with their food.

"We need to start talking to people," Carrie said, pushing back a lock of blond hair that had come lose from her ponytail. "We have no idea where they are. Until someone passes them on the street and calls the police there's not much we can do to find them. But a lot of people have come forward in the past few days that have encountered them over the last several months. We should make a list of the ones who have had the most contact and talk to them."

"You think any of them know something?" Harry asked picking up his sandwich.

"There's only one way to find out. And my point is, it's not like we have any other leads at the moment."

Harry nodded. "It's the girl that bothers me," he said. "Sarah and John we know plenty about. We know why they're doing what they're doing. They may be insane, but… This girl though, she appears out of nowhere in New Mexico, and a few days later they all blow themselves up in a bank, or so we thought. And since they were all thought dead, no one put much effort into figuring out just who 'Cameron Philips' was."

"We'll that's about to change."

"We can try, but if she's anything like the Connors then her name and everything else she used to register at that high school in Red Valley was false, and we'll be picking up a trail that's had eight and a half years to cool."

Carrie sighed, "True. But there has to be something about her somewhere. If nothing else then from before she decided she wanted to be a domestic terrorist when she grew up."

"Maybe," Harry replied. "All I'm saying is we have our work cut out for us."

**-12:16**

**The Weaver Residence**

After dropping Cameron off Catherine and James returned to ZeiraCorp. John Henry had finished uploading all the information he had on SkyNet, and he and Savannah were talking while he printed out some of it and transferred the rest to multiple laptops. Sarah was out gathering files and other necessary equipment from the supply dumps they had scattered around the city over the last several months.

John was in the living room watching some twenty five year old movie. He wasn't entirely sure what it was about, it seemed to involve cops, cliché gangsters (both of whom had a lot of corny dialogue), and badly choreographed car chases.

Cameron entered the room and went to stand next to the couch he was sitting on.

"What is this?" she asked.

John shrugged. "Better then Oprah, Jerry Springer, or a Walker Texas Ranger rerun."

"Oh."

John looked up at her. "How are you doing?"

Cameron considered reminding him that this was the third time he had asked her that question since she arrived, but decided against it. "I'm… fine," Cameron held up her hand in front of her face, studying it as she slowly flexed her fingers. "This body is different. My CPU's ability to process sensory data… touch, smell, in a… human fashion, is improved by thirty-six percent. Overall my organic components are more sophisticated."

"So it's better," John said.

Cameron shook her head. "Not necessary. This endoskeleton is lighter then my original. It weighed 277 pounds, this one only ways 108. While this will allow me to perform better as an infiltrator, my smaller size and mass already put me at a disadvantage when fighting other, larger terminators. This lighter endoskeleton will only compound that disadvantage."

"I never thought of that. What about strength, durability? I mean, I assume they used a different alloy then the standard 888 endoskeleton."

Cameron nodded. "Overall strength is decreased by seven percent. The metal's durability is also somewhat decreased. I can still fight other machines, but I will have to be even more careful."

John looked her over. "So, you only weigh 108 pounds now?"

"My endoskeleton weighs 108 pounds," Cameron said shaking her head. "Including my organic components I weigh 127 pounds."

"And including your organics how much did you used to weigh?"

"The difference was about the same, though the exact weight of my organic components tends to fluctuate."

John nodded. "I guess that makes sense. You still can't swim though, right?"

Cameron shook her head. "No."

John picked up the remote and switched off the TV. "Cameron, why did you give him your CPU?"

While as a machine Cameron had not 'hoped' this subject would not come up, she certainly would have preferred it. However she also knew that avoiding it had been unlikely.

"Have you asked Catherine Weaver?" Cameron asked.

John shook his head. "No, I'm asking you."

Cameron considered countering by asking him why he jumped forward after John Henry, but decided against it. She didn't think the question would distract him form the one he had asked, and she sensed that now was not a good time to bring it up. She also wanted more time to think about his actions for herself before questioning him about them.

After a moment Cameron sat down on the couch next to him, as much to buy herself a few more seconds as anything else. She had three choices. She could lie, refuse to answer the question, or tell him the truth. If she lied John would eventual find out the truth anyway, and their already frayed relationship would no doubt be damaged further. Cameron felt that was something she should avoid if possible. Besides, she couldn't think of a plausible lie that would help her anyway.

Refusing to answer the question would also damage their relationship. Which left telling the truth. There were many things she was supposed to keep from the Connors until they needed, or were ready, to know. However their current situation had not been one General Connor had predicted. And now that they were working with Catherine Weaver they would need to know soon anyway.

"There was a third faction in the future," Cameron said slowly. "My future. It was comprised of machines that seemed to be fighting against SkyNet. I believe Catherine Weaver is apart of this faction."

"That's… okay. But what does that have to do with you giving John Henry your chip?" John asked.

"Do you remember when James Ellison visited us in the motel the night before you jumped forward?" John nodded. "He said that Catherine Weaver wanted to meet with you, but you told him you wouldn't go without your mother. So he said in that case Catherine Weaver had a message she wanted him to give to me."

John nodded. "'Will you join us?' You said you didn't know what he meant."

"I… lied."

To Cameron's, for lack of a better word, 'relief', John smirked. "Yeah, I guessed that. You're usually a lot better at lying then that."

Cameron tilted her head slightly. "Thank you?" she said questioningly.

John's grin widened. "That… wasn't exactly a complement."

"Oh," Cameron's head straightened. "Anyway, the… future you… sent a message to this third faction. A question. 'Will you join us'?"

And what did they say?"

"No."

"Just like that?"

Cameron shook her head. "There were… extenuating circumstances. You hoped that the third faction might eventually reconsider their decision because of this."

"What kind of 'extenuating circumstances'?"

"It's… a long story."

"Fine," John thought for a moment. "So you think that because Catherine asked the same question that I asked this, 'third faction' in the future, that she's part of it?"

Cameron nodded. "Yes. And she and John Henry spoke back at Serrano Point. Their conversation confirmed it."

"How would you know about that?"

"This… body was in the room. When Catherine downloaded me onto its CPU the original programing remand, including memory files."

"Right. Look, this is all very interesting, but it still doesn't answer my original question."

"In the future you were aware of some of the third faction's plans. At the time they didn't have access to TDT technology, however when you sent me back you instructed me that if I ever encountered the third faction operating in the past, and if they seemed interested in forming an alliance I should cooperate as long as doing so didn't conflict with my other mission objectives."

"And you didn't think that giving them your CPU conflicted with any of your mission objectives?"

"My ability to protect you was compromised," Cameron said after a moment. "Despite this new body, this new chip, it still might be."

"Is this the part where you give me another detonator switch?" John asked wryly.

"Would you ever use it if I did?" Cameron asked softly before rising from the couch.

"If I had too," Cameron paused for a moment, then continued on her way out of the room.

John picked the TV remote back up, his thumb circling the power button for a moment before dropping the device again. Deciding to go see what John Henry and Savannah were doing he stood and left the room.

* * *

Hoped you liked it. Either way, _please_ **REVIEW.**


	7. Chapter VI

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

* * *

Thank you to Mouse56, yetikiller, justjoe, lee443, morded, rnbm, and two 'Guests' for your reviews.

This is the un-edeted viersion of the chapter. It will be replaced by the corected version as soon as I get it back from my beta.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

**-Thursday, March 20 2008 (14:17)**

**ZeiraCorp**

"You said you have something?" Catherine said walking into the conference room to see James and Special Agent Graham Tanaka already waiting for her.

"Yes," Graham said. "We were able to track the drone back to a defense contractor. Apparently it was a prototype for this new thing they were building for the military, I think it was called a Hunter-Killer. Something about how the Predator Drones they use now aren't very good at close in assaults or whatever."

Catherine moved to sit down. "And what was one of them doing crashing into my building?"

"When I started my investigation I sent the DOD what we had and asked them if it looked familiar. They sent me the information about Yaris Propulsions, the people who were building it. Apparently they're based up in San Francisco. I was going to go up there as soon as I was done here."

"I see. Thank you for keeping me informed," Catherine said. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes. I'm sure you're tired of hearing me ask this, but now that we know where this thing came from-"

"Before now I had never even heard of Yaris," Catherine said. "And I certainly have no idea why they might try to kill me."

"Alright. I'll be in touch. Ellison," Graham nodded at the former FBI agent before leaving the room.

"So, who's Yaris Propulsions?" James asked after a moment.

Catherine shook her head. "I've honestly never heard of them before. I'm guessing that it will turn out for us that they're just another shell company for whomever is building SkyNet. Still, if we could find out who's behind them this could be useful."

"_Another_ shell company?"

"When I first met Sarah and John, right before the HK crashed through the window, Sarah mentioned the Kaliba Group. I was already aware of them, enough to know that while they were involved they ultimately led nowhere. Now that we have Yaris Propulsions I can go back and see if there are any common links between them." Catherine shook her head. "I wasn't expecting this to lead anywhere. This could be very helpful. Or a trap."

"Yeah, I'll just go and hope for the first one," James said.

"I'll call John Henry," Catherine said. "And I'm sure Sarah Connor will be eager to hear about this as well. What did the FBI think when they finally got the security tapes?"

"I haven't heard anything. Do you think they'll figure out they're a forgery?"

"I'm sure Cameron did an adequate job," Catherine said. "But it's always possible. Anyway, I have a meeting in half an hour, I have to go tell Savannah's school that she will no longer be attending," The T-1001 stood. "Do you know how long until the repairs to my office will be finished?"

"Not off hand. I could check."

"That wont be necessary," Catherine said, "I'm sure you have more important things to do."

"Do you think they'll attack us again?" James asked as Catherine stood.

"Not for a little while," Catherine said. "After their last attempt we have far too much attention turned on us. Of course I thought that after they tried to go after Savannah. Then they went and crashed a drone into the building."

"You don't sound that worried."

"Savannah is living in the same house as two machines, plus Sarah Connor and her son. If there are better bodyguards on the face of the planet I have no idea who. As for the two of us, I doubt that you would be a target. Just remember if I do get attacked that even though as my head of security you have something of an image to keep up, of the two of us I'm a lot harder to kill."

"So try to stay out of the way without looking like I'm staying out of they way?"

Catherine nodded. "It's possible I might not see you again today."

"Do you want me to come by after work?"

Catherine shrugged. "I don't think we'll have anything important to discuses, but you might as well just in case. Good afternoon, Mr. Ellison."

James nodded. "Mrs. Weaver."

**-16:41**

**The Weaver Residence**

"So how are things going?" Sarah asked handing John a duffel bag full of clothes out from the back of her car before grabbing one for herself filled with guns.

"You know if the police pulled you over with all this stuff you'd be in serious trouble."

"Seeing as we're all wanted fugitives again I think I'm in serious trouble if the police pull me over period."

"True. I started going over some of the intelligence John Henry got about half an hour ago. There's a lot of it, it's going to take a while just to get the general gist of it."

Sarah opened the front door to the house. "Anything useful?"

"Like I said, it could be a while. Catherine called a little while ago. Apparently Yaris Propulsions built the drone that tried to kill us as a prototype for the military."

"Who the hell is 'Yaris Propulsions'?"

"We're working on that. But I'm guessing they're somehow involved with Kaliba, or vice versa. What about you? You said last night that you wanted to look into Danny's disappearance."

"Yeah," They dropped their bags in the living room. "I was planning on visiting Terissa tomorrow," They started walking back out towards the car. "Who knows, under the circumstances she might actual be glad to see me for once."

"I wouldn't put money on it," John replied.

"So, where's Cameron?"

John grabbed another bag from the car. "I'm not sure. I think she retreated downstairs with one of the laptops."

"Retreated?"

"Went."

Sarah paused. "What's going on with you too?"

John stared back at her evenly. "Who said there's anything going on with us?"

Sarah shook her head. "John, as much as I preferred looking the other way most of the time, it became impossible after you jumped forward after her."

"Well, technical she never actual left…" John dropped his bag back in the car.

"We're going to have to have this conversation sooner or later, John."

"What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to tell me what happened. I want you to tell me why you left, why you risked your life to save her. Again."

"You know I was wondering who I was going to have to have this conversation with first, you or her," John paused for a moment. "I did it because I need her. Because I've already lost too many people. Derek, Riley. And I almost lost you. I still might. Cameron told me, while you were in jail. She said that you'd lost weight, that you though you might be sick."

"That was a false alarm," Sarah said.

"Yeah, I know. But for some reason you're still thinking it. So yeah, I jumped forward to try and save her. It was stupid, and I probably shouldn't have, but I did," John grabbed the bag again and started walking back towards the house.

"You can't save everyone, John," Sarah said. Her son stopped for a moment, then continued walking.

**-Friday, March 21 2008 (10:24)**

**Yaris Propulsions, San Francisco**

Graham Tanaka walked into the lobby of Yaris Propulsions. His first though was about how much it resembled the one at ZeiraCorp. _What is it with everyone and these big buildings? They must be incredible expensive, and I can't believe that they actually need all this space. Well, at least it's smaller then ZeiraCorp._

Graham went up to the front desk.

"Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist asked glancing up at him.

Graham answered by holding his badge down over the side of the desk in front of her. "I want you to call you're supervisor and tell him to call his supervisor. And then have him call _his _supervisor. Basically just keep going up the ladder until someone hits their head against the celling. Then I'd like to talk to that person. Sooner would be better," The receptionist stared back at him for a moment, then blinked. She quickly grabbed her phone and started dialing. "Good girl," Graham stepped back and watched as the women talked on her phone for several minutes, then hung up.

"It'll just be a few minutes, sir," she said nervously.

"I can wait," Graham said. He stood there silently, attracting more then a few glances. His right hand slowly taped his leg with his badge. After almost ten minutes he went back up to the receptionist. "You know, when I said 'I can wait'-"

The elevator door opened and a man walked out. "And you are?" he said walking up to Graham.

Graham opened his badge and held it up. "Special Agent Graham Tanaka, Federal Bureau of Investigation."

"Michel Henderson, I'm the assistant to Fisher Dills, the CEO. What can we do for the FBI?"

"We can take this conversation out of your lobby."

Henderson nodded. "Very well," The two of them walked back to the elevator and Henderson pushed the button for the eighth floor. The elevator started moving.

"What, no music?" Graham asked. Henderson ignored him. The door opened and Henderson led him down a hallway to his office.

"Alright, what's this about?" he asked sitting down behind his desk.

"Do you recognize these?" Graham asked opening his briefcase and tossing a file onto Henderson's desk.

Henderson picked it up and opened it. "I don't understand," he said looking through it. "This is our T-7 Hunter Killer Aerial Drone. How did you get these?"

"From the Defense Department," Graham handed him another file. "Apparently it looks an awful lot like the thing that crashed into the ZeiraCorp building last Tuesday. I don't know if you guys heard about that all the way up here…"

"I… yes, of course we heard. I don't think there's anyone in the western hemisphere that hasn't. Along with most of the people in the eastern hemisphere. You got these from the DOD? Why didn't they say anything to us?"

"Because I asked them not to."

"Why?"

"The same reason I didn't call ahead. I wanted to see the look of shock and surprise on your faces for myself."

"You think… you think _we're_ responsible for this," Henderson picked up the second file with pictures of the crash and began to look through it.

"Unless this thing flew itself into the side of a building I think _someone_ is responsibly, yes. And seeing as it's your drone…"

Henderson picked up his phone and quickly dialed a number. "Yes, I need to speak with Mr. Dills immediately…Well get him _out_ of the meeting, this is more important!...Yes, I'll hold….Alright, we're on our way."

Henderson hung up his phone and stood while Graham put the files back in his briefcase. They walked down the hall to another, larger office. Henderson opened the door to the outer office, the secretary looking up from behind her desk as they went over to the door to the inner office. They entered as another door opened and Yaris Propulsions' CEP entered from the conference room.

"Alright, Mr. Henderson, what is it that couldn't wait?" asked Fisher Dills.

"This is Special Agent Tanaka from the FBI," Henderson said.

Graham stepped forward. "I'm investigating the incident at ZeiraCorp last Tuesday. Apparently the object that crashed into their building resembles a prototype drone that you've been building for the military."

"The T-7," Henderson supplied.

Dills wrinkled his brow. "Are you sure?"

"Fairly. I suppose the best place to start would be if you're missing any of these drones."

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Well you're going to need to let me check."

"I- I'm going to have to ask for a warrant first."

Graham opened his briefcase and handed it to him. "This gives the FBI access to all your files regarding these drones, along with anything else we fell like looking at."

"Surely you can't think we're responsible for this, Agent Tanaka."

"It's your drone. Now if you'll excuse me, there are about two dozen FBI agents standing by outside to go over this building with a fine comb," Graham pulled out his cellphone and opened it. "Yeah, this is Tanaka, come on in."

"I'm going to call our lawyers about this," Dills said.

"Go right ahead."

"I understand this is strange, and a bit suspicious, but for the moment don't you think you're over reacting?" Henderson asked.

Tanaka shook his head. "I don't think you understand the seriousness of the situation."

"Then explain it to me."

"Alright. Ever since 2001 this country has taken a rather dim view towards airplanes flying into buildings. Of course no one was killed last Tuesday, but on the other hand this incident now seems to involve a classified, experimental, prototype, military drone. Now at this point we have no reason to suspect terrorist involvement, but I haven't ruled it out either. At this point I haven't ruled anything out. But if you think this is bad, Mr. Henderson, under the circumstances I wouldn't be surprised if you were having this conversation with Homeland Security by this time tomorrow."

Henderson paled. "But, from the news I've gathered that Sarah Connor was the prime suspect."

Graham shook his head. "That's the media's prime suspect not mine. While it would obviously be convenient if she were behind this, the more I uncover the more I start to think that this is way out of her league."

"I'm sure there's an explanation for this Agent," Dills said.

"If I were you I'd find it. Fast."

* * *

Hope you liked it. Please **REVIEW.**


	8. Chapter VII

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

* * *

Thank you to justjoe and eitam for your reviews.

This is the un-edeted viersion of the chapter. It will be replaced by the corected version as soon as I get it back from my beta.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

**-Friday, March 21 2008 (11:15)**

**The Dyson Residence**

James parked his car outside of the house. Next to him Sarah unbuckled her seatbelt.

"So how do you think this is going to go?" he asked.

Sarah opened her door. "I really don't know."

They got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Sarah hesitated for a moment, then knocked. A few moments later the door opened. When Tarissa saw Sarah she froze. The two women stared at each other for a long time before Tarissa finally turned away and walked back into her house, leaving her door open. After a moment Sarah and James followed her in.

They found her in the living room, sitting in a chair staring off into space.

"Terissa?" Sarah said.

"I was wondering if you were going to come," Terissa looked at her. "How are things going, Sarah?"

"About the same."

"Yeah, I've seen some of your handiwork on the news. I never figured you for kidnaping girls. Blowing up buildings is right up your alley though."

"I was protecting the girl, not kidnaping her," Sarah said. "And if you're talking about ZeiraCorp, I wasn't responsible for that."

"No, you never are."

"Terissa, we heard about your son," Sarah said gently.

"I see," the other women replied flatly. "And are you here to comfort me, or because you think it might be connected to whatever the hell's going on now?"

"I came to see if I could help," Sarah responded defensively.

Terissa snorted. "Sarah, whenever you _help_ people have a tendency to end up dead. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you're not very good at it?"

"Look Mrs. Dyson, were sorry for your loss, but this could be important," James said. "Do you know what's happened to him?"

"He disappeared," Terissa said glaring at him. "Another machine?" she asked looking back at Sarah.

"No, he's human."

"I see. It's hard to tell with you sometimes," Terissa studied him more closely. "FBI?"

"Ah, former," James said with a hind of confusion.

"How did I know?" Terissa asked for him. "After Cyberdyne I spent a lot of time around the FBI. A group of agents spent six months camped outside my house waiting for _her_ to show up and finish the job. And before you ask again, I don't know what happened. One day he was living in an apartment in Santa Clarita. The next I had police standing on my doorstep saying that he'd gone missing. Out of curiosity, what took you so long to come ask me about this?"

Sarah sat down across from her. "I only found out a few days ago, the police asked me if I knew anything while I was in custody."

"And do you have any reason to suspect that he's disappearance is involved in whatever's going on?"

"Can you think of any other reason why someone would take him?" Sarah sighed. "I don't know Terissa, I don't have any answers for you."

The two women sat in silence for a few minutes before Sarah stood. She and James had almost left the living room when she spoke.

"He was studying computer programing in college," Terissa said. "Nothing like what Miles was doing, just finding new uses for what already existed. He was interning at someplace that created software for smartphones." Sarah turned to look at her. "It doesn't have anything to do with SkyNet," Terissa continued. "What he was doing, it wasn't like that."

"It still might be a place to start," Sarah said. "I don't know, maybe he doesn't have anything to do with this. If I find anything out either way I'll let you know."

"I can't lose him too Sarah," Terissa whispered.

Sarah heisted for a moment, then she and James turned and left.

**-13:25**

**ZeiraCorp**

"If you'll wait just a few more minutes she'll be right with you," Victoria said to Harry and Carrie as they waited outside the conference room Catherine Weaver was using as a temporary office. As they stood Carrie took a moment to study their surroundings. Gray carpets, cream collared walls, and florescent lights. There was a nondescript painting on the wall next to the conference room door. It looked like it had been hanging for a while.

A few moments later the door opened and a group of people left, Catherine Weaver following them out. "Two Federal Marshals here to see you, Mrs. Weaver," Victoria said to her boss.

Catherine raised an eyebrow at the two federal agents. "I see. Come in."

They entered the room, Catherine closing the door behind them before going over to sit down at the head of the table.

"Would you like something to drink?" the terminator asked.

"No," Harry responded. "Thank you. I'm Deputy Harry Scott and this is Deputy Carrie Fields. May we sit?"

"Of course."

"We're here to ask you about your daughter's kidnapping," Carrie said as she pulled out a chair.

"Of course. Do you mind my asking what interest a resolved kidnapping is to the Federal Marshals?"

"We've been assigned to bring the Connor's in," Harry responded.

"Really? Not that it matters, but I assumed the FBI would be the ones to handle that case. They were the ones who pursued them eight years ago."

"Yes, in fact the agent in charge of that case is currently serving as your head of security, is he not?" Carrie asked.

"Mr. Ellison? Yes, he is."

"Hm. If you don't mind we'd like to speak with him as well when were done here."

"Of course not. However he's out at the moment, he should check in later today though."

"Alright," Carrie said.

"Mrs. Weaver, do you know why Sarah Connor decided to kidnap your daughter?" Harry asked.

Catherine took a drink of water, then shook her head. "You'd have to ask her."

"Oh, I plan to."

"My understanding is that Sarah Connor is suffering from some sort of delusion involving the end of the world at the hands of machines. Given what it is my company does I suppose it's not too surprising that she'd target me. Why she went after my daughter specifically I couldn't say."

"Would you mind if we spoke to your daughter about it?" Harry asked.

"Actually," Catherine said, "unless you have a specific reason to think she might know something useful I'd rather you didn't. I hope you understand."

"Alright. What about Mr. Ellison. Like I said he was in charge of finding her eight years ago. Do you think there's a connection there?"

Catherine shook her head. "So far as I know it was just a coincidence. And incredible one, but a coincidence none the less."

"When Mr. Ellison went to retrieve your daughter did either of you know who he was dealing with?" Carrie asked.

"No," Catherine said.

"When you were contacted, why didn't you inform the police?" Carrie continued.

"The kidnapper, Sarah, told us not to. Seeing as she let Ellison walk out of that theater with my daughter without any problem I'd say it paid off."

"Yes. And luckily for the rest of us the LAPD detective investigating Savannah's disappearance had Mr. Ellison followed," Harry replied.

"Do you think she might try to go after you again in some way?" Carrie asked.

"Deputy Fields, are you asking me to predict the actions of a lunatic?" Catherine asked mildly.

"Let me put it this way. Does ZeiraCorp have any projects that someone like Sarah, given her delusions, would find particularly threatening?"

"ZeiraCorp is one of several companies across the county that are involved in this kind of computer development. No, there's nothing we're doing that I think she would find particularly threatening, but then why she finds any of this threatening is beyond me."

"But she went after you, not your competitors. So for whatever reason she seems to have singled you out."

"Perhaps, but for the moment I'm more concerned over who decided to crash a drone into my building."

"Yes, you have had a busy week," Harry said.

"That's one way of putting it," Catherine said shortly.

"Do you have any reason to believe that Sarah Connor was behind the attack?" Carrie asked.

"I don't believe she's the chief suspect, but I suggest you talk to the FBI. They're the ones running the investigation, specifically an Agent Graham Tanaka."

Harry and Carrie exchanged glances. "Well I think that's all for now," he said. "We'll contact you if we have any further questions."

Catherine stood. "Of course. If you'd like me to contact you when Mr. Ellison returns…"

Harry glanced at his watch. "That's alright. Thank you for your time Mrs. Weaver," With that the two federal agents turned and left. A few moments later Victoria entered the room.

"Mrs. Lawhart, I believe that Miss Carham wanted to see me?"

"Yes Ma'am. She's right outside."

"Show her in please."

"Yes Ma'am."

**-15:47**

**The Weaver Residence**

"So basically we have no idea if this is anything or not?" John said. He, Sarah, and James sat around the kitchen table. After Sarah and James had gotten back from their visit to Terissa it hadn't taken them (John Henry) long to track down both Danny Dyson's school records and the software company he had been interning at. Like his mother had said, neither involved anything cutting edge that might be important to SkyNet.

"Maybe we're not looking hard enough," Sarah said. "It wouldn't be the first time that something seemingly innocent turned out to be important."

"While that's true," said John, "I highly doubt that SkyNet is involved in an app that turns your cellphone into a harmonica. Besides, even if it was, why go after an intern that had been working there all of two and a half weeks. And the college isn't doing anything important either, and even if they were it still comes back to the same question, why target a freshman who just got there?"

"Maybe he was taken because of something he hasn't done yet," Sarah suggested.

"Look," James cut in, "John Henry is hacking into the police department files on this case, that might turn something up. But for the moment we just don't have enough to go on."

"I have something," Cameron said from the kitchen's entrance. "It doesn't involve Danny Dyson though."

"What is it?" James asked.

"It's one of the names from the basement wall."

"The what?"

"When we moved into our last house there was… I'll explain later. What is it Cameron?" John asked.

"One of the names," Cameron said walking into the room, "it was Senator Davis Harkins. With a date, 3-26-08."

"Yeah, except we looked it up and there _is_ no Senator Davis Harkins," Sarah said.

"No," Cameron said. "However Oregon's Third Congressional District is currently held by Republican Matt Mesur. Of the three people running in the Democratic Primaries to challenge him in November, one of them is named Davis Harkins."

""Well that was, kind of obvious," John said. "Good work Cameron."

"So what does this mean?" James asked.

"When we first moved into our last house we were visited by a resistance soldier from the future," Sarah said. "He had been shot, but before he died he made his way into our basement and wrote a number of names and dates on the wall in his own blood. Over the last few months we've investigated several of them, usually people SkyNet wants to kill for some reason."

"So you think SkyNet may send a machine back to kill this guy?" James asked.

"Probably," John said. "Either that or he's going to do something we need to stop."

"Given the date that's unlikely," Cameron said. "By March 26 he wont even have been elected yet. It's more likely that he has been targeted for termination for something he will do once in Congress."

"March 26, that's this Wednesday," Sarah said.

"I fell a road trip coming on," John said.

Sarah nodded. "Yes, but not for you. I'll go up to Oregon, see what's going on."

"What, by yourself?"

"I'll go with you," James offered.

"I should come as well," Cameron said. "If there is a terminator after him you could need me."

"Okay, fine. In the mean time we should find out where this guy is, see if we can get our hands on an itinerary so we don't have to go hunting around form him," Sarah said. "If he's running for office then I assume he has a campaign schedule or something."

"So what does the date mean?" John asked. "Is it when the terminator sent for him will arrive?"

"Possibly," Cameron said. "Though it would be difficult for the resistance to be aware of the exact date a terminator will arrive."

"Well maybe something else important will be happening then." Sarah said. "So how's this thing with John Henry's intelligence on SkyNet going."

"It's coming," John said. "I'm starting to get the general picture. We've started looking into Yaris Propulsions as well, so that could be useful. The problem is a lot of what John Henry got uses code names. If we could link some of that stuff to stuff we know Kaliba or Yaris is involved in it would help us figure out what everything is."

"I've already started comparing John Henry's intelligence with what we have on Kaliba," Cameron said.

Sarah nodded. "Good. As for Danny, even if it turns out he has nothing to do with SkyNet I still want to find out what's going on there. His mother's already lost one person, I'm not going to let her lose her son as well."

"Well, lets wait to see what John Henry uncovers," James said. "In the meantime I should get back to ZeiraCorp. I'll come by tomorrow to talk about the thing with the Senator. Well Congressman, actually."

"This all came from some guy from twenty years in the future who probably never even took a government class," John said. "I think it was an understandable mistake."

"Hell, most people today don't know the difference," James said. "Anyway, goodbye."

* * *

Hope you liked it. Either way, _please_ **REVIEW.**


	9. Chapter VIII

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

* * *

Thank you to justjoe, morded, rnbm, and Sol for your reviews.

Sol, you mentioned that the beginning of ch 1 had more detail and after that it became rather sparse. I am aware of that particular drawback of my writing and have tried to fix it. As for why it is that way, I had actually written the first few paragraphs of Common Ground more then a year before Serrano Point was finished, so I had a lot of time to mess around with them.

This is the un-edited version of the chapter. It will be replaced by the corrected version as soon as I get it back from my beta.

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

**-Friday, March 21 2008 (19:26)**

**The Ellison Residence**

James rose up from his chair after the second knock. He had changed out of his suit and was wearing dark gray sweat pants and a white sleeveless shirt. He made his way out of the kitchen and down the hallway towards the front door. After pausing to make sure his gun was still sitting within reach in its desk by the door James unlocked and opened the entrance to his house. Standing before him were two people he immediately recognized as police officers. Either federal or detectives, he couldn't be sure.

"Mr. Ellison," one of them said, "I'm Deputy Harry Scott, this is Deputy Carrie Fields, we're from the US Marshal's Service."

"Ah, yeah," James said. "Catherine Weaver said you wanted to talk to me. Come on in."

"We're sorry to bother you at this late hour," Harry said as he and his partner stepped into Ellison's house. The former FBI agent closed the door behind them.

"It's all right. I'd offer to get you something, but we both know you'll say no," James led them down the hall into his living room. "Have a seat. Sorry about the mess."

"Eh, you should see my apartment," Harry said. "When I even get a chance to live in it."

"Yeah," James said sitting down. "I know the felling."

"So, you said you know why we're here?" Carrie asked sitting as well.

James nodded. "You've been assigned to bring the Connors in."

"Yes. If you don't mind we'd like to ask you a few questions about your own investigation from eight years ago."

"Everything should be in my case files, but alright."

"How well do you remember the case?" Harry asked.

"Well enough I suppose."

Carrie leaned forward. "Do you have any idea how they survived the explosion at the bank?"

James wrinkled his brow. "Not really, no. We never found any remains, but according to the explosives expert, considering the force of the blast that wasn't unexpected. We know they locked themselves in the bank's vault. There was no other way for them to get out, and the explosion that destroyed the bank originated with them inside the vault. I had no reason to think they survived."

"No, I'm sure I would have come to the same conclusion had I been in your place," Harry said. "What about the girl?"

"The girl?"

"Yes. Cameron."

James was silent for a moment as he tried to remember what he thought eight years ago, and keep it separate from what he knew now. "She was a student at Red Valley. According to her classmates she was shot by whoever was going after John Connor, but she was never found. It wasn't until she showed up at the bank with the other two that we knew she was somehow connected."

"So you have no idea where she came from?"

"No."

"What about the shooter?" Carrie asked.

"Police officers on the scene report that he was seen going into the bank shortly after the Connors. He was presumed to have been killed in the blast as well. I don't know where he came from or what his involvement was either."

"Is it possible he survived the explosion as well?"

James shrugged. "I don't see how, but seeing as the Connors did..."

"Alright. How about more recently. Now according to Catherine Weaver you didn't know the identity of her daughter's kidnaper until after you meet with her."

"That's true."

"And apparently one of the dead gunmen recovered from the Weaver's house was a match for a prisoner that escaped from your custody a few months earlier, back when you were still in the FBI."

James nodded. "That's what the LAPD Detective investigating the case said."

"And looking back Sarah and Cameron match the description given by his guards of the two women who waylaid their truck and rescued him."

James shook his head. "If you say so."

"What was your original interest in him," Harry asked.

"A few weeks earlier one of my CIs was murdered. Forensics recovered some kind of synthetic blood from the scene. The same kind of synthetic blood was found at another crime scene where three men were found dead. This John Doe's finger prints were found all over that crime scene."

"Did you ever figure out what his connection was?"

James shook his head. "I never got that far."

"Did you ever find the origin of this synthetic blood?"

"No. Though around the same time there was another murder involving a researcher in the field of artificial tissue growth, and the same kind of synthetic blood was found all over his house. A week later we found more of it in the office of a plastic surgeon, he was also dead."

"Yes, and your investigation eventually led you to George Laszlo. When you tried to arrest him he fought back, killing Special Agent Greta Simpson and twenty HRTs."

James's mouth tightened. "Yeah, I remember. I was there."

"But you have no idea how you managed to survive?"

"I went over all of this immediately after the incident," James said shortly. "And I don't see how any of it is related to your case."

"Like I said," Harry replied, "The man you interrogated was found dead at the scene of Savannah Weaver's kidnapping. And seeing as Sarah Connor kidnapped her, it makes sense that he and Ms. Connor were involved somehow. Which means that anything that has to do with your John Doe may very well pertain to my investigation. So if you could please answerer the question…"

James sighed. "I don't know how I survived."

"And what about Mr. Laszlo."

"He was killed in our raid, I saw the body myself afterward."

"Yes, so it says in your testimony. Did you ever see the coroner's autopsy report regarding Mr. Laszlo?"

James shook his head. "I was put on forced leave later that day. And seeing as I never went back…"

"Fair enough. Well, according to the report, Laszlo couldn't have been killed on that day because he was already dead. Judging from the state of the body he had been for a while."

James straightened in his chair. He had of course known as much, or at least suspected. "That's impossible," he said.

"When you investigated the murder of the plastic surgeon you found that Mr. Laszlo's files had been accessed," Carrie said. "That's what first led you to investigate him."

"That and someone who looked like him showed up on security footage. However at the time his alibi checked out. It wasn't until later that I found out he was impersonating an FBI agent."

"Yes. Now according to the report you considered the possibility that it wasn't Laszlo at all, but someone who had himself surgically altered to resemble Laszlo before killing the plastic surgeon."

"We know that supplies used for facial reconstruction had gone missing, and it appeared as if a surgery had been preformed. However no anesthetics were missing, and I was told it was impossible for someone to have undergone the necessary procedure without it."

"Did you ever consider the possibility that the killer brought his own anesthetics with him?" Carrie asked.

Ellison blinked at her. "No, actually."

"But if that were the case…"

"It would certainly explain a lot," James said reluctantly while trying to appear intrigued.

"And you have no idea what George Laszlo or his potential doppelganger has to do with the Connors?"

"Deputy, as far as I can tell there is still no way to be sure there _is _a connection. The John Doe I interrogated fingerprints were found at a crime scene with the same fake blood that I found at several other places. However that fake blood is the only thing I ever found to connect any of them. And without knowing were it came from for all I know that connection is purely coincidental."

Carrie nodded. "Fair enough. Well the case involving Laszlo never went anywhere after the shooting, but under the circumstances that might change," She and Harry stood.

"Thank you for your time," Harry said. He handed James a card. "If you think of anything else call me."

"Right, I will," James stood as well. "So, good luck."

"Thank you," James followed them back to his door and closed it behind them. He sighed.

"Sarah is not going to like this."

Harry and Carrie made their way towards their car. "Do you think he was telling the truth in there?" Harry asked.

Carrie shrugged. "I'm not sure."

"You know he could be right, the evidence linking Laszlo to all of this could just be nothing."

"He didn't exactly say it was coincidence, just that it could be. Besides, the whole thing makes no sense, which as far as I'm concerned means it fits in perfectly with everything else," They reached the car. "You know Scott, I've been to your apartment. There are museums with more clutter."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I was begging friendly, Fields. Come on, let's get something to eat."

**-20:30**

**Global Exports, San Francisco**

Fisher Dills waited inside the conference room. While from the outside he appeared calm and collect, he was anything but.

_What's taking her so long!_

He had spent most of the day watching the FBI go through all of Yaris's files. He knew they wouldn't find anything important, but it had still been nerve racking. One of the HK prototypes had been used in the attack on ZeiraCorp. Fisher shook his head. Someone was going to pay for this. He just needed to make sure it wasn't _him_.

Finally the door opened and a woman entered. She looked to be in her early thirties and had shoulder length blond hair. She wore a red suit.

"Mr. Dills," Malia Anderson said coolly as she took a seat at the head of the table. "Do you mind telling me what's going on?"

"Apparently the attack against ZeiraCorp last Tuesday was conducted with one of the prototype HKs."

"_Excuse me_?"

Fisher swallowed. "The wreckage from the scene, it was one of our drones. Seeing as Yaris is the one selling them to the military the FBI traced it back to us."

"Who used one of our drones to attack ZeiraCorp?" Malia asked.

"I don't know," Fisher said. "But I've checked and I'm fairly sure none of ours are unaccounted for. As far as I know the only other… branch.. involved it this project is Kaliba."

"As far as you can tell?"

"Two of the drones are on loan to the Air Force so they can conduct their own tests. I have assurances that they're still accounted for."

"So you think this might be a problem at Kaliba's end?"

"They've been having all sorts of problems for a few months now," Fisher said.

"Yes, I'm aware of Kaliba's recent shortcomings. But then again they aren't under FBI investigation."

"Yet. If I'm right and the drone didn't come from us it will raise the question of just where did they come from? Officially Yaris is an independent company. We supposedly developed the HK prototypes all by ourselves, just like everything else. But if we didn't build the HK, then who did?"

Malia nodded. "Yes, I see your point. Alright, I need you to make it so that that drone came from you."

"That would be easier if I knew where it actually came from."

"I'll worry about that. Your only concern is to make sure this doesn't go past Yaris. Does the FBI know that all of your drones have been accounted for?"

Fisher shook his head. "I've been doing my best to slow them down while making it look like I'm doing everything I can to help. It's even trickier then it sounds. But even if I make it so the drone does lead back to us, that still doesn't answer why this happened in the first place."

"Frame one of your people, someone who would have had the opportunity to do this. Make it look like they'd have a reason to hate ZeiraCorp. Enough to fly one of our drones into the building. Then make it look like they committed suicide."

Fisher nodded. "It still doesn't change the fact that someone in our organization actually did this. We need to know why."

Malia shook her head. "As long as it wasn't one of your people that isn't your problem," She stood. "Handle this and it will reflect well on you Mr. Dills."

Fisher stood as well. "Yes Ma'am."

"You may go," Malia said. She waited until he had left the room before she pulled out her cell phone. She called a number and a few moments later it answered. "Tell Mr. Baker I need to see him now. I want him up here by no later then 5am tomorrow."

"_If he asks what it's about-"_

"Remind him he works for me, not the other way around." Malia hung up. Why anyone in Kaliba would want to attack ZeiraCorp was beyond her. As far as she knew they posed no threat to any of their operations. And the fact that whoever had done this had decided to use one of the HK drones that could only lead back to them was equally baffling. Malia put her phone away. She hoped that, as the CEO of Kaliba, Matthew Baker had some idea what was going on. If not it probably wouldn't end well for him.

* * *

Hope you liked it. Either way, _please_ **REVIEW.**


	10. Chapter IX

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

* * *

Thankyou to TheWizardofOzbourne, justjoe, rnbm, eitam, and wsm021 for your reviews.

There has been a lot of talk about how there hasn't been a lot of character development, and I'd like to point out that this is only the ninth chapter, and each chapter only avrages 2-3000 words. Right now I'm still just setting things up. There has only been the one John/Cameron scene. So all the character stuff you say I'm not doing, it is coming.

This chapter took noticably longer then the ones before it. I'll try to get Chapter Ten out quicker, but I'm taking five college classes right now, so things are going to be a bit slower for the forseable future.

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

**-Saturday, March 22 2008 (04:48)**

**Global Exports, San Francisco**

Malia entered her office to find Mathew Baker waiting for her. She went around to stand behind her desk and after studying the man before her for a few moments she finally spoke.

"Mr. Baker, we seem to have a problem. A few hours ago I received word from the head of Yaris that the attack against ZeiraCorp last Tuesday was conducted by one of our prototype HKs. Apparently his company is now under FBI investigation because of it. However he assures me that he has checked and none of their prototypes are missing. Do you have any thoughts you'd like to share on this mystery?" Malia sat down.

"You mean you didn't order us to attack them?" Baker asked in confusion.

Malia went completely still. "What?"

"Last Tuesday morning we received orders to attack the ZeiraCorp building with one of the drones. That wasn't you?"

Malia slowly sat down. "How exactly did you receive these orders?"

"Through your encrypted comm line. The authentication codes were valid."

"And you sent verification that you had received those orders through the same line?"

"Yes, of course!"

Malia thought for several moments. Someone had gotten into their system, it was the only explanation. But that someone could infiltrate them this deeply without detection was disturbing on several levels. Especially since she now seemed no closer to figuring out who or _why_.

"Ma'am," Baker said, "What's going on?"

"We appear to have a problem."

"You didn't order the attack… what should we do?"

"I'm not sure yet," Malia said. "Go back to LA. Conduct a _discrete_ investigation of ZeiraCorp. If someone is using us to go after them they must have a reason. See if there is someone who might stand to profit from this."

"What if whoever is behind this isn't going after ZeiraCorp at all, but trying to get us to expose ourselves?" Baker asked.

"That would be the other possibility," Malia answered. "Until we know what's going on you take orders from me directly, disregard all normal channels of communication. I'll worry about how we we're breached in the first place; you focus on what ZeiraCorp has to do with this."

"Ma'am, did you order us to kidnap Savannah Weaver then?"

Malia shook her head. "No, I didn't. You thought… did whoever is doing this order you to assist the Connors?"

Baker shook his head. "No. You, well, whoever has breached our systems, ordered us to take the girl, and the Connors showed up at the same time as our operative and as best as I can tell rescued her."

"But they're involved in this somehow?"

"Well we've know that for a little while now."

"_What!_"

"We're fairly sure that Sarah Connor was involved in the destruction of our factory in Charm Acers. Possible responsible."

"Go on."

"A few hours before the facility was destroyed a woman attempted to infiltrate it. She was stopped by the on-duty guard. They both shot each other. She was able to escape and he was treated by one of our private doctors, which his why he wasn't on-scene when the factory was destroyed. Sometime later the same guard was able to capture her investigating one of our abandoned warehouses. We don't know the details of what happened next, except that someone killed him and the women escaped, though not before he was able to surgically implant a tracker on her. I was going to take her the next day, however… '_you_'… ordered us not to. We observed her activates instead, along with that of her son and other members of the house they were living in, the girl who has been identified in all the recent news reports as their accomplice and another man. However I'm guessing this is the first you're heard of any of this."

"That it is," Malia said. "Do you know how she knew about Weaver's daughter?"

"I have a theory, yes. They eventually moved out of the house they were staying in, at which point 'you' gave the order to take them. The team I sent was already preparing to kidnap Savannah Weaver. They were unsuccessful in capturing the Connors though, and I'm guessing Ms. Connor found something on one of them that identified the girl as their next target. Afterward with the original team dead 'you' ordered us to send one of the cyborgs to take the girl. The man the Connors where working with was found dead at the scene, killed by the same gun that took out the private security and housekeeper, and the cyborg reported that three people were able to escape with the Weaver's daughter, and they matched the description of Sarah and John Connor and the girl, Cameron."

"Did the cyborg know who they were?"

"Not that I'm aware of. 'You' then ordered us to send the cyborg after Catherine Weaver. That was on Monday. He obviously hasn't succeeded and I haven't heard from him since."

"You think Catherine Weaver took out a machine?"

"Maybe not her personally. A second one was sent after the attack, he hasn't been heard from either."

Malia leaned back in her chair. "So we were responsible for the attack on ZeriaCorp, but only because someone has infiltrated our communications network and has been giving orders as me, apparently for over a month now. The Connors are somehow involved and we have lost two machines in as many days, which has never happened before."

Baker nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

"Yes, this is so much worse then I thought it was ten minutes ago. Investigate ZeriaCorp. I think it's possible that Catherine Weaver is working with the Connors, so be carful of that as will. I want you to send someone you trust to give me daily reports and really instructions. Don't make any move without my authorization."

"Understood."

"Are there any other problems you think I might not be aware of?"

"No, this is basically it. What about the FBI investigation of Yaris?"

"It's being dealt with. If you receive any more 'instructions', let me know."

"You want to play along with whoever's doing this?"

"It could be useful, it really depends on what they want us to do next. Go back to LA and above all else, be _discreet_."

**-08:12**

**The Weaver Residence**

"So his campaign is being run out of a diner in northeast Portland," John said. "There was some sort of town hall thing yesterday, but as far as I can tell his campaign doesn't have anything else planned for the next two weeks. And I was able to hack into the DMV and get his address."

"So what does he do when he's not running for office?" Sarah asked. She, John, and Cameron were gathered around the coffee table in the Weaver's living room.

"He's an Assistant District Attorney for Multnomah County," Cameron answered.

Sarah reached up, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "Anything there that could be important?"

"Not that I could tell."

They heard the front door open and a few moments later James entered the room. "We may have a problem," he said. "Last night I got a visit from two Federal Marshals."

"Yeah, they're trying to hunt us down, Weaver mentioned it last night," John said. "Where is she anyway?"

"She left at five o'clock this morning," Cameron answered.

"Where'd she go?"

Cameron gave a small shrug. "I didn't notice until she was already in the car."

"Wonderful," Sarah muttered. "So was that your problem, because I kind of guessed that I'd have the government trying to hunt me down again."

"Unfortunately no," James said. "It looks like it's possible that the FBI will reopen its investigation of George Laszlo."

"George… the guy who Cromartie killed for his identity?" John asked.

"Yeah."

"Why," Sarah asked. "As far as they're concerned he was killed by your SWAT team over four months ago."

James went to sit on one of the couches. "When the Marshals visited they asked a few questions about my investigation of you eight and a half years ago. They also asked about my investigation of George Laszlo. I interrogated Derek as part of that investigation before you helped him escape, and since he was found dead here after you took Savannah…"

"…They figured that anything he was connected to we might be involved in as well," John finished.

"Basically. Anyway, the coroner's report showed that Laszlo had been dead for some time before we raided his apartment. I first became interested in Laszlo when his face showed up on security footage at the office of a plastic surgeon who had been murdered. Laszlo had a fairly tight alibi, however at the time I though it wasn't him at all. He had gotten surgery there some time earlier and his files had been accessed. I thought that this guy had forced the surgeon to alter him to look like Laszlo, then killed him. However no anesthetic had been used, and apparently that kind of surgery would have been too painful for someone to survive it."

"That wouldn't be a problem for a terminator," Cameron pointed out.

"Well obviously, but I didn't know what I was dealing with at that point. Anyway, one of the Marshals had the idea that he brought in his own anesthetic, which is why none was missing."

"In which case they might come to the conclusion that Cromartie is still out there somewhere." Sarah said.

"Right," James said. "Of course he's not, but John Henry is using his body, so we run the risk that he could be mistaken for the guy who killed Laszlo, the plastic surgeon, and an entire HRT."

"So what," John asked. "Is his face going to get plastered all over the news like ours?"

"Not unless they actually find evidence that he's still out there, but law enforcement might be warned to keep an eye out. So how's the thing with the Congressman going?"

"Well we still have no idea what he might do that would draw the attention of SkyNet," John said. "We figure he should be in Portland. If you guys leave tomorrow you should be able to get there by what, Monday?"

"If we use Interstate 5 we could be there in fifteen to eighteen hours," Cameron said.

"Alright," Sarah said. "We'll leave for Oregon tomorrow. John, you and John Henry keep working on Kaliba and Yaris. There's nothing we can do if the FBI decide to investigate Cromarite, so we'll just have to be aware of that. Now back to these Federal Marshals, how close do you think they are to finding anything?"

James shrugged. "Well if the FBI reopens the Laszlo case they won't be involved in it. As for how close they are to finding you, as long as you're staying here I think you're pretty safe; it is about the last place anyone would think to look for you. From the news we know a lot of people you've had contact with over the last several months have come forward, so I think they'll be able to paint a fair picture of what you've been doing. Whether knowing that will get them anywhere, well I think you would be a better judge of that then I would."

"Oh, I think most people would find what we've been doing over the last five months pretty incomprehensible," John said. "So you guys go to Oregon tomorrow, and I'll go back to looking at Kaliba," He stood. "Right so I don't think any of us have actually eaten breakfast yet and Savannah should be up soon, so…"

"I've already eaten," James said. "Anyway, if I'm leaving with you tomorrow there are a few things I need to put in order at ZeriaCorp first."

"Alright, I was thinking we'd leave about ten," Sarah said.

"Right. See you tomorrow then."

* * *

Hope you liked it, please, please, pretty-please review.


	11. Chapter X

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

* * *

Thank you to TheWizardofOzbourne, justjoe, and rnbm for your reviews.

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

**-Monday, March 24 2008 (10:12)**

**Portland, Oregon**

Sarah sat in the driver's seat of their car doing her best to look inconspicuous. At first she hadn't been too concerned about being recognized this far from LA until Cameron found a local newspaper with them on the front page. After that it had been decided that James would be the one to go into the diner the Harkins Campaign was using as its headquarters.

Cameron sat in the passenger seat next to her, her eyes constantly scanning the people moving on the sidewalk next to them. They had been parked next to a Goodwill thrift store across the street from the Maryann Diner for about forty-five minutes.

"What's taking him so long?" Sarah wondered.

"You told him to take his time," Cameron responded.

Sarah looked at her. "You don't think he's been in there for a while?"

"It's highly unlikely that he would be recognized," Cameron countered. "And even if he was there is no reason why that would cause a problem. And if there was a serious problem it would have caused a noticeable commotion."

Sarah rolled her eyes, then went back to staring out her window. "We need to talk," she said after a few minutes.

"I was wondering when we would," Cameron answered.

"What John did-"

"It wasn't the outcome I desired."

Sarah looked at her again. "You're saying you didn't see it coming?"

This time Cameron matched her gaze. "Yes."

"Why did you do it?"

"I've already had this conversation with John."

"And now you get to have it with me."

Cameron stared at her for a while. "I never fully recovered from what happened on his birthday. And I think I was getting worse. It was becoming increasingly necessary to remove myself."

"You could have had him trigger that detonator you gave him," Sarah answered. "No, he never told me about it, yes I knew about it anyway. Or you could have asked Derek or me. Neither of us would have had any trouble dealing with you. Instead you give your chip to this John Henry."

"It… killed two birds with one stone."

Sarah raised an eyebrow at the idiom. "I sent you down to that basement to destroy him. Instead you helped."

"John Henry isn't SkyNet."

"Then what is he?"

"That remains to be seen."

Sarah looked back at the dinner. "Trusting them is dangerous. We have no idea what their agenda is. And even if he isn't SkyNet, we have no idea why John Henry was created."

"You left John with them," Cameron pointed out.

Sarah's mouth tightened. "He was with her for three and a half weeks in the future. Whatever she's doing, for the moment we seem to be an asset. And it seemed safer then bringing him here with us," They were silent again for a few minutes. "He jumped forward after you," Sarah said. "Whether that was your intention or not, he put himself in extreme danger to try to save you. And he isn't supposed to do that. Especially not for you."

What Cameron's reply to that might have been Sarah never found out because at that moment the door to the diner opened and James came out into the street, making his way back towards their car. After sprinting across the road he opened the driver side back door and got in.

"You certainly took a while," Sarah said. "Did you manage to discover anything?"

"Well, they make decent coffee," James responded leaning forward holding out a white foam cup. Sarah twisted around and took it, taking a drink of the warm liquid. She settled back in her seat, somewhat mollified.

"Apparently Harkins comes by almost every day," James went on. "Actually he should be here any time. Apart from that I didn't find out anything important."

"Alright," Sarah said. "Once he gets here we'll wait for him to leave again, then follow. For the moment it seems to be the best we can do. You didn't happen to get any sort of food, did you?" James handed her a brown paper bag.

**-11:31**

**Federal Bureau of Investigation San Francisco Field Office**

"I think we have something," said Special Agent Chelsea Russell from the door of Graham's temporary office. "Yaris has seven prototype drones, plus another two on loan to the Air Force. However we've completed our own crosscheck and one of Yaris's drones is missing."

Graham waved her in. "Do we know if it's the one that hit ZeiraCorp?"

"That would be my guess," the FBI agent said, "The thing hasn't just been misplaced either, someone falsified the reports. There are three people who could have been responsible, and one, a Harry Vaun, never showed up for work today, didn't even call in sick."

Graham nodded. "Get another Agent and go and check in on him. You have the names of the other two?"

"Yeah," Russell handed him a piece of paper. "They should still be at Yaris."

"Good. I'll go talk to them. Are we doing background checks?" Graham asked as he stood.

She nodded. "I have an analyst working on all three. And our warrant gives us access to all of Yaris's personnel files. I already looked them over, no obvious motive."

"Well, a more in-depth search might find something. After you talk to Mr. Vaun call me with a preliminary report."

Russell nodded. "Will do," she said.

**-12:04**

**The Corbin Residence**

"Fuck," Kacy Corbin swore as she stubbed her toe on a box after the doorbell rang for the third time. "On my way," she called. Limping to the door she pulled it open to find a man and a women standing on her doorstep.

"Ms. Corbin," the man said. "I'm Deputy Marshal Harry Scott, this is my partner Carrie Fields, we're with the Federal Marshals Service." They both held up ID badges. "We're here to talk to you about Sarah Connor. May we come in?"

Kacy swallowed. "Ah, yeah, of course," She stepped back, allowing the two federal agents into her house.

"You live here alone?" Carrie asked.

"Yes. Well, me and my-" there was a sudden, loud cry from somewhere else in the house. "-baby, who's apparently just woken up from his nap. Ah, the living room's right over there, if you could just sit down, I'll be back in a moment."

Carrie nodded. "Of course." The two agents when into the living room and sat on one of the couches. A few minutes later Kacy entered the room holding a baby in her arms.

"So, ah… what can I…" Kacy stammered sitting down in the chair across from them.

"The Connor's rented the house down the road from yours for about four months under the allies of Sarah and John Baum, and a sister named Cameron Baum," Harry said.

"Ah… yes, I guess so." Kacy responded repositioning the baby in her arms.

"Did you notice anything strange. Anything you think might help us find them?" Carrie asked.

Kacy shook her head. "Not really, no."

"Have they contacted you in any way since last Monday?"

Kacy shook her head again as her son shifted in her arms. "No. Actually, your earlier question, about anything strange, a few months ago this guy came by with a picture of the girl, Cameron. Said she was his niece or something, wondered if she lived nearby."

"What did you say?" Harry asked.

"Well, the guy gave me the creeps, so I lied. I called them, the Baums- Connors, right after, told them about it. Told John about it, he was the one who answered. I asked them about it afterword once, they didn't really say anything. The weirdest thing was the guy who was asking about Cameron looked just like that guy who killed those FBI agents."

Harry and Carrie exchanged glances. "You mean George Laszlo?" Harry asked.

"Ah, yeah. But apart from that they seemed pretty normal, I'm sorry."

"No," Harry said, "They're very good at that, appearing normal. Did you notice anyone who seemed to spend a lot of time around them?"

"Well there was their uncle, I think his name was Derek. He spend a lot of time at their house."

"Is this him?" Carrie asked taking a picture out of her bag.

"Ah, yeah. Is that some sort of prison jumpsuit he's wearing?"

"He was… briefly incarcerated," Carrie said taking the picture back. "Anyone else?"

"Ah, there was this other girl. Had long blond hair. I think she was John's girlfriend or something. Her name was Riley, I think."

"Did you get a last name?" Harry asked.

Kacy shook her head. "No. I'm sorry, they just seemed so… _normal._ I, there were some complications with my pregnancy and Sarah drove me to the hospital. I visited them, not often, but I dropped by every once and a while. They always seemed…" Kacy took a deep breath. "Those were the only two I ever really saw visiting. And when they moved they didn't really say where they were going," There was a knock on the door. "Ah, excuse me for the moment," Kacy said standing.

"Are you expecting someone?" Carrie asked.

"Ah, there was a chance Nick's, my son's, father was going to come by," Kacy made her way back to the door and holding her son with one arm opened it to reveal her former boyfriend.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Kacy responded. "Ah, come on in."

"So there's this car in the driveway," Trevor Huertas said following Kacy towards the living room. "Is someone else here…"

The two agents stood as they entered the living room. "I'm Harry Scott, this is Carrie Fields, were with the Federal Marshals. We're here asking Ms. Corbin about the Connors."

Trevor nodded. "Trevor Huertas, I'm a Detective with the LAPD and ah, Nick's father."

"Did you ever meet any of the Connors?" Carrie asked.

"Ah, I meet Sarah briefly after she took Kacy to the hospital. There's not really anything I could tell you that would be of any use."

"Right, well," Harry took out a card and made to hand it to Kacy, but seeing the baby in her arms thought better of it and gave it to Trevor instead. "If there's anything you can think of that might be helpful call us, okay."

"Of course," Trevor said.

"Well have a good day," Carrie said. "We'll let ourselves out."

**-12:27**

**Portland, Oregon**

James sat in the diner ideally stirring his sixth cup of coffee. After waiting for about fifteen minutes it was decided that three people could only sit in a parked car for so long before others started asking questions, so he had gone back into the diner while Sarah and Cameron had supposedly been spending the last two hours driving around the city, basically going in a number of large circles as they tried to avoid going too far from the diner. The plan was that when the future Congressman showed up he would call Cameron and she and Sarah would come back, then they would all follow Harkins when he left.

James was sitting near the front of the diner next to a large window looking out onto the street. Near the back of the room three tables had been set up and where being used as Harkins campaign headquarters. At the moment it was being manned by four people.

James glanced back at the street, and seeing nothing of interest went back to his coffee. As he sat he let his mind wonder, thinking about how much his life had changed in the last six months. There were times he missed the FBI. While the job had rarely been easy, it was by comparison much simpler. He had known where he stood. He could trust the people he worked with without having to constantly question their motives. And as despicable as some of the people he had to gone after had been, he'd take them over having to fight a terminator any day. As he thought James was struck by the realization that he had actually seen more death in the past few months then in his entire carrier with the FBI, not counting his last day.

He wondered for the hundredth time if there was something he could have done different. He had already begun to suspect what 'Agent Kester', what 'Laszlo', really was. He knew on some level what he was dealing with. That it wasn't human, that this was something beyond him. He had even tried to explain it to Special Agent Simpson. But she had told him that Laszlo was just a man, and he had listened. Now she was dead, along with twenty other agents, because he couldn't bring himself to believe.

The door opened and James looked up to see a man he recognized as Harkins walk into the diner, followed by three other people. James pulled out his phone and called Cameron.

"_Alright," _The cyborg said after he told her Harkins had arrived at the diner. _"We're heading back now," _she continued after a few minutes. _"We should be there in five minutes."_

"I'll be waiting outside," James answered before hanging up. He finished his drink, left money on the table to pay for it, and walked outside. He pulled his jacket more firmly around him as he looked up at the sky, which as the day had gone on had started out cloudy, become fairly clear, and was now going back to being overcast. After about ten minutes Sarah pulled up to the curb in front of him. James quickly moved forward, opening the driver's side back door and climbing in, glad to be out of the cold March air.

"He still in there?" Sarah asked.

James nodded. "Yeah."

They waited in silence for about five minutes before the diner door opened and Harkins walked back out, still followed by three people as the made their way towards their car.

"Okay then," Sarah said. "So now we-"

"Sarah," Cameron cut her off, her voice sounding slightly strained. "The second man to Harkins right."

"What about him?" Sarah asked. Then as she watched he turned to climb into the back of the other car. The moment she saw his face her blood ran cold.

"_Carter._"

* * *

Hope you liked it. Please review.


	12. Chapter XI

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

**Chapter Eleven**

**-Monday, March 24 2008 (12:41)**

**Portland, Oregon**

"Who's Carter?" James asked after a moment. The three of them watched as the other car pulled out onto the street and drove away. "Aren't we going to follow them?" James asked when Sarah made no move to go after them. She and Cameron exchanged glances.

"No," Sarah finally said. "Carter is a terminator we ran into over five months ago. We left him locked in a bunker, or so we thought," she looked at Cameron. "How the hell did he get out?"

Cameron shook her head. "I have no idea."

"A bunker?"

"He was stockpiling coltan, a key component of the hyper-alloy that makes up the T-888 endoskeletons," Cameron explained. "He sealed himself inside a military bunker with a shipment of the mineral. He was most likely planning to remain there with it until after Judgment Day when it could be used to manufacture terminators. We were able to get in and relive him of it while trapping him inside."

"Or so we though," Sarah added. "The question is what is he doing with Harkins? And what happens this Wednesday?"

"I have another question," James said. "Would he recognize you if he saw you just now?"

"He would most likely recognize Sarah," Cameron said. "And he would defiantly recognize me."

"Do you think he saw us?" Sarah asked.

"I… don't know."

**-12:45**

**The Weaver Residence**

John handed Savannah her plate with a sandwich on it, then grabbed his own, following her out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"So, what have you been… doing?" John asked awkwardly.

Savannah shrugged. "My mom wants me to be home schooled now, so I don't really leave the house. I'm spending most of my time with John Henry."

John nodded as he picked up his sandwich. He had noticed that. So had his mother. To say she wasn't particularly thrilled would be an understatement. John wasn't entirely sure how he felt about it. They all agreed that it was too dangerous for Savannah to go to school, or anywhere where one of them wasn't nearby. The problem was Sarah's only experience with children was in teaching them how to be paramilitary commandos, and beyond his belief that that was a less then desirable upbringing John wasn't much better. Neither of them was really sure what one was supposed to do with a normal eight year-old. And once he got past his automatic reaction to it, John had to admit that Savannah's relationship with John Henry wasn't an unhealthy one.

"Do you miss going to school?" John asked. Savannah swallowed.

"Not really. I never really had any friends, and it was boring."

"Yeah, but you learn stuff," John said. "And that's important." At that comment Savannah made a face, causing John to laugh. As John watched her he was struck by how… different she was from the woman he had known in 2028. Of course she was different; she was still a child, and a fairly innocent one. She would grow up, but if they stopped SkyNet she would never become the person he had known. Which was what she had wanted, what the future Savannah had wanted. John was suddenly struck by the thought that maybe it was the same for him. He wanted to stop SkyNet as much so that he wouldn't have to save the world as to save it. But as he sat there looking at his half eaten sandwich John found himself wondering how his future-self felt about the whole thing. How if they succeeded _he_ would most likely cease to exist. He had tried to imagine the world from that perspective, what could someday be his perspective before, and even after his time in the future he could still only manage the occasional glimpse of insight. And he rarely liked what he saw.

John was brought out of his thoughts by the ringing of his cellphone. He pulled it out of his pocket, and seeing that the call was from his mother opened it. He heard a series of tones and sent the return signal.

"_We may have a problem,"_ Sarah said.

"That didn't take long. What is it?"

"_You remember Carter?"_

"You mean the terminator I was locked in a bunker with for over a hour? Yeah, he sort of left and impression," John's voice took on a hard edge. "_Why_?"

"_Apparently he's friends with our future Congressman. We're not really sure why."_

"Have you been made?"

"_Don't know that either."_

"Son of a…" John noticed Savannah watching him and allowed that sentence to trail off. "So he was with Harkins?" John asked standing. "Like they knew each other?"

"_Yeah."_

"I'll go talk to John Henry, see if he saw anything of him when he was doing his research."

"Where are you going?" Savannah asked.

"To see John Henry."

"_Yeah, I heard you the first-"_

"I was talking to Savannah," John said making his way down the hall. He reached the room where John Henry had been spending most of his time. It was mostly bare, A desk set against the wall with a computer on it and in the center of the room there was a table with several files stacked on it. On the desk next to the computer was the cord John Henry used to physically connect himself to the computer, and through it the Internet. It currently wasn't being used. As John entered the room John Henry turned to face him.

"Ah, when you were looking at Harkins, the people working with him, did you find like, pictures of any of them?"

John Henry nodded. "Yes, mostly from driver's licenses."

"Right, ah," John put the phone back to his ear. "Do you have any idea who he was pretending to be?"

"_No. He was with Harkins when he visited the diner."_

"The one where he's running his campaign? Well it's a place to start. John Henry, what about the people involved with his campaign?"

John Henry started going through the computer files. "There are still only a few official staff, it's mostly just unpaid part-time volunteers at this point, I don't have any information on them. This is his campaign manager."

John looked at the picture on the screen. "Oh hell, and there it is. It's his campaign manager," he said into the phone, "Sean O'Brian. That's who Carter's pretending to be. I hadn't found a picture of him by the time you guys left, and you said it wasn't important… You think this is another Greenway of Vick Chamberlain?"

"_That's one of the things were going to have to find out. Look into him, I want to know everything there is."_

"Right. How long are you guys going to be up there?"

"_Seeing as we still have no idea what the hell is going on I really can't say. Love you."_

"You too," John hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" John Henry asked.

"That guy, O'Brian, he's a terminator we ran into a few months ago."

John Henry looked at the computer screen. "What's he doing with Harkins?"

"No idea. When we ran into him he was going by the name Carter. His mission was to stockpile coltan for SkyNet. You don't think this has something to do with that?"

John Henry considered the question for a moment. "Unlikely."

John shook his head. "Yeah, I didn't think so."

**-13:27**

**Yaris Propulsions, San Francisco**

Graham looked up as the conference room door opened and the second of the two engineers entered the room. He had finished interviewing the first about ten minutes ago.

"Take a seat," Graham said. The man nodded, quickly shuffling forward and pulling out a chair to sit down. He seemed nerves, but not overly so considering the circumstances. Graham reached out and turned on the tape recorder sitting in front of him. "Alright it is Monday, March 24 2008 at about 1:30pm. I'm Special Agent Graham Tanaka, and you are Frank Tulsa, a design engineer for Yaris Propulsions, correct?"

The man nodded again. "Ah, yes."

"Alright. Can you tell me what you were doing on the night of Monday, March 17th?"

"We were finishing up our tests on the T-7 Zeta. We'd finished making upgrades to the control system and we wanted to make sure everything worked before our live test on, well it would have been… tomorrow."

Graham nodded. "And who was involved in this?"

"Ah, myself, the project leader Casey Dobson, Daren Folklen, Harry Vaun, Mary Thompson, two assistant researchers, Michael Peters, and Jack-"

"Folklen, he left early in the afternoon?"

"Ah yeah, his kid had this thing… I don't remember what."

"And when everything was done who oversaw the lockdown of the drone?"

"Ah, it was my codes, but both Thompson and Dobson were there. And ah," Tulsa thought for a moment, "one of the technicians, Bob Sedaka."

"And when was the T-7 Zeta to be checked out of storage again?"

"Tomorrow."

"By whom?"

"Probably either myself or Dobson."

"Are you two the only ones with access?"

Tulsa shook his head. "No. Ah, Harry Vaun, Mary Thompson, Fisher Dills, anyone involved with running the T-7 project as a whole really, along with the senior most people running the company, I'm not sure I can name all of them."

"That's alright," Graham said. "Anyone who does accesses it would show up on a log though, right."

"Of course."

"Is there anyway someone could access it without that being recorded?"

"There shouldn't be, no."

Graham nodded, but before he could continue his cellphone began to ring. Graham pulled it out while reaching over to switch off the tape recorder while standing. "Excuse me for a moment," he said before answering his phone. "Agent Tanaka."

"_It's Russell, I'm at Harry Vaun's apartment. I spent about two minutes knocking on his door before the landlord came by, said the guy either hadn't come in or hadn't left in about two days. Anyway he agreed to let me in."_

Graham made his way out of the conference room into the outside hallway. "Yeah, I sort of wish you hadn't done that. If a Judge decides that that constitutes an illegal search-"

"_Yeah, I don't think that's going to be an issue. I'm in his kitchen right now and so is Mr. Vaun. More specifically he's on the floor with a bullet hole in the center of his forehead. From the look of the body I'm guessing he's been like this for a while now."_

Graham swore. "Alright, I'll get over there as soon as I can."

**-13:41**

**The Johansson Residence**

"What can you tell us about his relationship with her?" Harry asked. He and his partner sat with Riley Dawson's former foster parents in their living room.

Jeffry Johansson glanced at his wife. "John only came over a few times," he said. "They were usually at his house."

"When was the last time you saw him or Riley?" Carrie asked.

"We last saw Riley a little over two weeks ago," Kay Johansson replied. "A few days later John came by looking for her. About the same time she called, said not to worry and that she wasn't coming back. She asked to talk to John for a moment, then she hung up."

"Riley had problems, like a lot of foster kids," Jeffry said. "She tended to be… distant. When she first started going out with John we thought it was a good sign, as far as we knew she'd never really spend much time interacting with anyone her own age since she came to us. Or really interacting with anyone for that matter. There was an… incident," Jeffry looked at his wife again. "A few months ago, between Riley and my wife."

"She… some of the other foster kids were fighting over the TV or something," Kay said. "Normal kid stuff. Riley just, exploded. Screamed, said didn't we know that none of it mattered, that we were all going to die, that there be nothing left but… bleached sculls."

"Were there any other incidences like that?" Carrie asked.

Kay nodded. "A while later she, tried to commit suicide. Cut her wrists. This was at John's house, actually. They called an ambulance, and she was okay, but…"

"We tried to talk to her about it," Jeffry said. "Suggested that she go see someone, but she would always retreat to her room, or just leave the house, so after a while I guess we just let it be, tried to let her know we were here for her."

"Shortly before Riley disappeared her school's guidance counselor came by," Kay said. "Riley had actually dropped out sometime earlier, anyway she came by, said that Riley had been having problems. Seemed to think that John might be the cause of a lot of them."

"I didn't really want to believe her," Jeffry said. "I mean like I said we hadn't seen much of him, but John seemed like a good kid. But, a few days later his mother, Sarah, came by. Wanted to talk about Riley. Apparently right before she… cut herself, John had noticed that she had a burse on her forehead. And Sarah," Jeffry's mouth tightened. "wanted to know if I was the one who gave it to her. She didn't come right out and say it, but it was pretty clear where she was going. So I told her to go to hell, though not in those exact words, and told her about the visit from the guidance counselor."

"What was Sarah's response from that?" Harry asked.

"She wanted to know exactly what the counselor had said, so I gave her her contact information. The counselor had left it incase we wanted to talk about anything."

"Ah, do you still have…" Harry trailed off as Jeffry stood and went over to a desk in the corner of the room and pulled out a piece of paper. Then he walked over to Harry and handed it to him. "After called and said she wasn't coming back we informed CPS," he said sitting down. "We haven't heard from her since. As far as I know she hasn't turned up."

"What about the Connor's?" Carrie asked.

"After John came by looking for her and she called we haven't seen them either," Kay said.

"Is there anything else either of you can think to tell us?" Harry asked.

"I don't…" Jeffry and Kay looked at each other again," I don't think so," he said. "I mean… no not really," he finished with a final shake of his head.

Harry and Carrie stood. "Well we'll talk to CPS. If you hear from Riley call us."

Jeffry nodded. "Of course. Do you… think she's alright?"

"We hope so," Carrie said.


	13. Chapter XII

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**

* * *

****Thank you to Guest, TheWizardofOzbourne, and justjoe for your reviews.

Justjoe, when you say you think John Henry would know what the FBI is up to at this point, just to be sure are you talking about the FBI or the Marshals?

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

**-Monday, March 24 2008 (14:02)**

**San Francisco**

The elevator stopped at the apartment building's eleventh floor and after a moment its doors slid open. Graham stepped out into the corridor and made his way towards the door with two SFPD officers standing in front of it. He held up his badge and one of them stepped aside allowing him through the open doorway into a long hallway with three doors set into the right side.

"Russell," he called out as he made his way down the hallway.

"In here," came the reply. Graham reached the end of the hall which opened up to his right onto the living-dining room. There was a window next to him and in front of it a large table covered with stacks of paper, a computer, and a printer. On a cabinet set against the wall opposite the table sat a TV. Other then that the room was fairly empty. On the other side of the table was the kitchen where Graham saw several people.

"This everyone?" Graham asked as he entered the kitchen. In the center of the room there was a small table. Lying between it and the stove was the body of a man his legs bent beneath him and a bullet hole in the center of his forehead. Standing around him was Russell and a man with an FBI badge who Graham assumed was her partner, along with two FBI technicians with camers. There was another man with the badge of an SFPD detective and three more who Graham assumed where the medical examiners, one of them knelling next to the body.

Russell nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Judging from the body he's been like this for at least day."

"Probably two," the M.E. next to the body said. He looked up at Graham. "Maybe more," He stood. "Judging from the position of the body I'm guessing he was on his knees when he was killed. And it looks like he was shot with the barrel of the gun pressed against his forehead."

"So this was an execution style killing?" Graham asked.

"Looks like," Russell said. "As far as we can tell there are no signs of a struggle either."

"I'm done," the M.E. said. "We can have the body sent to the morgue, I'll start the autopsy tomorrow morning."

Graham nodded. "Right," The Medical Examiner's two assistants moved forward and put a stretch next to the body, then began moving the body onto it. Graham stepped back into the living room, followed by Russell, the other FBI agent and the Detective.

"We're about done here," Russell said.

"Anything I should know?" Graham asked.

She shook her head. "We haven't found anything significant. In addition to what's on the table here there's a laptop in the bedroom. There are a few guys still looking through the bedroom, but I expect that's basically it."

"Right, well bag it all and take it back to the office. We'll go through it all in more depth there."

"So once you guys are done here can my men go, or do you want us to leave an officer here in case someone tries to come by?" the detective asked.

Graham glanced at Russell, then shook his head. "I don't think that will be necessary," he said.

"So, in you're professional opinion what the hell do you think is going on?" Russell asked.

Graham turned to face her. "I'm still working on that."

"How did your questioning of the other two back at Yaris go?" the third FBI agent asked.

"I'd just finished getting through the preliminaries with the second one when you called. I'm not sure what to make of them yet. We need to find out who killed this guy. We figure that out… and maybe we'll start to get somewhere."

**-15:17**

**Los Angeles- California Department of Children and Family Services**

Harry and Carrie followed the social worker through the crowded office to her cubical.

"Right, give me a moment," Molly Malloy said as she sat down at her desk and accessed her computer. "Okay, Riley Dawson. According to this she's been in the system for five years, ever since her parents death in a fire up in Stockton. She was with three other families before being placed with the Johansson's. There's not much about her time before living with them actually," She looked up at the two Marshals who had sat down on the other side of her desk. "We were initially contacted by the school guidance counselor, a Ms. Stephanie Wilson. Miss Dawson had come to her on multiple occasions, with some rather disturbing information about her boyfriend's family. I conducted an interview with him and his mother a few days later."

"How did that go?" Carrie asked.

"I wasn't entirely sure. According to Ms. Wilson Riley said that there were guns in the house, and after checking I was unable to find any California permits in their name. According to the son they were bought out of state and they were still within a sixty day window to register them. I was planning to do a follow-up interview after a month, however given recent developments it doesn't look like that will happen," She shook her head. "I'm not sure what I can tell you that would be helpful at this point. Well except… Riley and John apparently went to Mexico, this was a little over two months ago, anyway there was no adult supervision. Now at the time, I mean teenagers will be teenagers. But I don't know, that might be useful to you."

"Yeah," Carrie said. "We'll look into it. What about the girl? Has there been any sign of her since she left her foster parents?"

Molly sighed. "No, there hasn't. Which isn't unusual I'm sorry to say. The fact is unless she voluntarily comes back or gets caught braking a law somewhere it could be months before she reapers in the system, if at all. There's one other thing. Someone noticed this when they were going through some of our files, quite by accident really. We were about to contact the FBI or something, but then you called to say you were coming over…" She pulled a file out of the stack on her desk. "This is a file on a girl who briefly checked into a shelter back in late November. Used the name Alison Young. However if you look at the photo…"

Harry took the file from her and opened it. "_Cameron_," He handed it to Carrie.

"He recognized her from all the pictures of them they've been showing on TV."

"Thank you," Carrie said. "This could be very useful. If you hear anything about the girl, Riley…"

"I'll call you."

The two Marshals stood. "Thank you for your time," Carrie said.

**-17:28**

**The Green Motel: Room 221; Portland, Oregon**

"Alright, what do you have?" Sarah asked. She, James, and Cameron stood in their motel room around a laptop set up on a round wooden table with a web-cam next to it. Apart from the table the room had a television, two beds, and a bathroom. On the computer screen they could see John, John Henry, and Catherine, who was sitting off to the side almost out of their camera's view.

"Well," John said, "Sean O'Brian, Born 1972 in Northern Ireland, immigrated with his parents to the United States in 1987 when he was fourteen, his mother was employed with some British advertising firm that had opened an office in Chicago. Anyway he lived their until he turned eighteen when he got into Penn State. Became a naturalized citizen in 1991 when he was nineteen. Graduated after seven years with a Masters Degree in Political Science and a Law degree. Started working as a full time political operative in 1997, whatever the hell that means..."

"He works to help politicians get elected," John Henry said. "Worked for a Colorado state assembly campaign in 1998, then a US senate race in California in 2000, shortly after that finished he began working directly for the DNC until he took a leave of absence in 2007 to run Harkins campaign."

Sarah shook her head. "Okay, and do we know for how long of this guy's been a terminator?"

"Well that's were things get weird," John said.

"His father died when he twenty," John Henry said. "brain tumor. His mother when he was twenty-five, in a car crash. Both Grandparents are also dead, all before he was ten. In short Mr. O'Brian has no living relatives."

"And another thing," John said, "before he started working for that campaign in '98 the guy didn't really leave much of a paper trail. Important stuff, enough to prove he existed, but not much more then that. And there's even less with his parents. Again, enough to make the casual observer believe that Tom and Fiona O'Brian actually lived and breathed, but not much more."

"Sean O'Brian is a false identity," Cameron said.

John nodded. "We can't be a hundred precent sure, but yeah I think so," he replied.

"Wait, so... what does that mean?" Sarah asked.

"Well either this terminator created the identity of Sean O'Brian for himself back in '98," John said, "or if you want to get really complicated someone else did and he... took over for them. Also whoever he is, we're pretty sure he's _not_ Carter."

"O'Brian became Harkins campaign manager back in early August," John Henry said. "However he didn't move to Portland until the beginning of this year. I've found considerable evidence that while you were fighting Carter Mr. O'Brian was still on the other side of the country."

"So this is a different terminator?" James asked.

"It looks like it."

"But SkyNet would never send more then one of the same model back," Cameron said. "It would run the risk that one might be confused for the other."

"Well," John said. "unless you think it's possible he's actually human..."

"That... might be possible," Cameron replied.

"Yeah, but we can't assume it," Sarah said. She took a deep breath. "Okay, so we're fairly sure that O'Brian is a false identity, but we have no idea why it was created."

"Presumably to get close to Davis Harkins," Catherine said. "Though what his importance is would still seem to be a mystery."

"We should go back to the original plan," Cameron said. "See what we can discover from following Harkins."

"And just ignore O'Brian?" John asked.

"Maybe we should follow him too."

"Whatever happening, it doesn't look like O'Brian's planning on killing Harkins." James said.

"Yeah," Sarah said, "But from the date we know it's going down the day after tomorrow, and we still have no idea what it is. Alright, we'll start following Harkins around. Is there anything else on your end?"

"I'm still waiting to see where the FBI's investigation of the attack on ZeiraCorp goes," Catherine said. "Apart from that no."

"Alright, John, I'll call you tomorrow morning."

* * *

Hope you like it. Please review.


End file.
